A Certain Electric Deliveryman
by Jon-Berry
Summary: After inFamous 1, Cole receives an invitation to participate in 'Work Experience Day'. Teaching Misaka Mikoto of Academy City.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"You have got to be shitting me," Warden William Harms looked over the letter that had quite literally dropped into the lap of the man sitting on the other side of the desk with trepidation.

"Tell me about it. Damn near blew the thing away before it opened up its parachute." Cole MacGrath shook his head at the recollection of the event earlier in the day. "I thought some First Son had gotten lucky, and was trying to drop a mortar on me. Almost threw it out over the water anyways.

Harms didn't feel like telling Cole that not once had they found evidence of a Mortar in Empire City, but that a parachute like that could have meant an air-burst of some chemical into the air, like Sasha's Tar. Thoughts like that were not a new thing to the powerfully built man as he read the letter again.

Instead, he said something a bit more diplomatic. "Not exactly what I was thinking about, Cole." Harms stood up to stretch his legs a bit – a long day in the office would do that to any one. "But I see your point. Although along those lines, my boys think we've located another First Son's safe house on the north side of the Historic District."

"Really?" Cole looked up in surprise, which was quickly replaced by expectation. "First I've heard of it. Want me go flush them out for you?"

"No. Thanks, though. For the offer." Harms returned to his seat. "No Conduits, so I've decided to let my boys handle it." He was apologetic. "I don't want the people to think their boys in blue couldn't handle things without the Electric Man watching over their shoulders like some sort of angel."

"Heh. Better than being called the 'Lightbulb'." Cole didn't hide his reaction at the better nickname. "So, what were you really thinking about?"

"Well, in the couple days before the quarantine got pushed into place, back when you could still get a phone call out of the city, I sent a message to that city asking for help." He sighed. "Then everything went to hell with the Reapers and the Dust Men. Never got a reply."

"Damn, that sucks."

"And by the time things got settled, well, you had pretty much wiped the Reapers, the Dust Men and the First Sons out." He looked out the window of the old fortress that had been converted into a prison. "I always thought the stories from there were about kooks and other charlatans, but after this past month, I've changed my mind."

"I never paid much attention to those sorts of things." Cole admitted. "Still not sure what these people want from me though."

"Academy City?" Harms knew exactly what was wanted. "They want you, Cole. They want you bad."

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" Misaka Mikoto, the third ranked Level Five of Academy City threw down the official letter from her school onto the desk. She was thankful that her roommate / stalker hadn't found about the contents yet. "Why does this have to happen to me? It's not like I have _his_ luck!"

"Like what, Onee-sama?" And so much for the stalker. Kuroko simply teleported back into their room, bypassing any chance she might have had of hiding this development. "Let me see!" And just like that, the letter was off her desk and into Kuroko's hands. "Let's see here..." She teleported away from Misaka's grasping hands, "Oh, you received your letter for your Work Experience Day? What did they say? Mayor? No, of course not. That would be too low for you!"

Then she read the letter in its entirety. And her joy turned to mud. "What's this? This has to be a mistake! There's no way my beloved Onee-sama could possibly wind up with a mundane job like that!" She stopped moving about the room to appear before Misaka, bowing low. "Please, allow me to deal with this impertinence directly", then she was gone.

"Oh for the love of!" Misaka groaned. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

* * *

No matter how they read it, no matter what eye they took to it, the letter was simple. "They want to sell out the First Sons," Cole waved a hand in the air to emphasize his point.

"Yeah. But what they're offering, and requesting in return," Harms shook his head at the simple piece of paper, "but the law man in me doesn't like this one bit. It's just... off." He thought a bit. "They want you to visit their city for two days. First will be spent in a hospital where they'll examine you, see what makes you immune to the plague, that sort of thing. This doctor, the man they call the 'Heaven Canceller' -"

"Doesn't he have a real name?" Cole interjected sourly. "I don't like the idea of people hiding behind code words and call signs." In the courier business, you had to trust the people you worked with, that meant real names. Those who tried to use some fancy name were just puffing themselves up, and they were the ones who usually fell first.

"It's a title, like how we call Navarro the President instead of President Navarro." Harms recovered nicely, but the other thing is going to be this PR stunt of theirs. Giving out 'personal' demonstrations without actually telling you what they mean by that?" He groaned. "And the fact that they're willing to contribute aid to Empire City just sweetens the pot."

"They ain't gonna learn anything," Cole grumbled. "I've spent too much time at Bayview, and they couldn't figure me out," what he left unsaid was that he was still _persona non grata_ at the Hospital in the Warrens for breaking their MRI machine. It was an accident, everyone agreed, but it wasn't like he was _welcome_ there for a while. "Doubt they'll learn any more."

"I don't know Cole, Academy City is pretty advanced, even compared to the States. They might have a leg up, able to crack your secrets."

Cole didn't know how he felt about that. He changed the subject. "And what about these 'personal demonstrations' that they're asking for. Any ideas?"

"Probably the ones where you do that fancy light show, you know? Show off for the politicians and the kiddies?" Harms grinned at the thoughts, "You know the ones you hate?"

"Oh, you mean the same ones where people want you to be the next Mayor?"

"God, don't remind me. Being the Warden does not make be a good choice for a civilian leader." Harms admitted firmly. "I'm just not that kind of man."

"Neither am I."

"Still, the fact that they're so willing to stack the deal in your favour – it just rings false. They're desperate."

"I know. But the only way to spring the trap is to walk right in. Even if it is a trap in the first place. They're giving this huge deal because they can't afford anything else."

"Heh. I think they're also playing PR games. Offering help like this will score them points with the international community."

"Ugh. Give me some First Sons to shoot any day"

"I hear you. Listen, about this signal they want you to send out. Don't you think it's a little obvious?"

"What's subtle about three Ion Strikes in a certain pattern? There's no way it would be by accident."

"Still, at least they've asked for them where you won't harm anyone."

"And I can recover on the rails to the next spot." He didn't hide his joy at the experience of floating just above the tracks, the power flowing through him and the wind in his face. "Besides, I can trust you guys to make sure I don't get interrupted."

"So you're going then?"

"Yes." The admission was quick and quiet.

"What about Zeke? He's been cluttering up my answering machine trying to reach you."

"I ain't talking to the bastard, shooting Kessler ain't made up for that." Cole's voice turned sour. "Don't talk to me about him."

"Fine. But he's trying, Cole. You gotta respect that. But moving on, this is a solid three day trip. At least. My cousin went to Japan a couple years back. It's like an 18 hour trip. Plus the two days you spend there..."

"So?"

"Well, don't you think the gangs will get ideas if you suddenly vanish for half a week?"

"Damn."

"Look, there's room for some negotiation with this deal. I think I can swing something."

"What?"

"Well, Academy City has these 'Anti-Skill' people that are apparently trained to deal with Conduits – though they call them 'Espers' over there."

"Wait!" Cole snapped his fingers in recognition, "Isn't Academy City that place that hosts that fake sports event where they have all those.. kids... with..."

"Super powers? Yes. I know. Want a stiff one to get over the shock?" Harms pulled a hip flask from his desk and gave it a quick shake to measure how much was in it. He tossed the entire thing to Cole. "I found one of my guys who had an illicit recording of the one from earlier in the year. It was... sobering." He timed his last word to coincide with Cole taking a swig straight from the flask. "Freaky too, but seeing all those kids, and _knowing_ that it wasn't CGI or some other trickery."

"You got that video still?"

"Yeah. Want to see it?"

"Damn straight. I want to see what sort of hell I'm going to be getting myself into."

It took a few minutes for the Warden to find the tape and turn on the TV. Silently he and Cole watched highlights of the athletic competition.

"Well, shit."

"Yep." Harms took the flask back from Cole, only to find it empty. Ah well, there would be time to hit up the still in the tower later.

"I counted dozens of Conduits. All with different powers."

"Well, it was a giant game of dodgeball there. Everyone had to do their thing."

"Still... how the hell didn't we know about this? I mean, was there a Ray Sphere blast in the City?"

"No," Harms answered. "I think they're all natural. It's just that Academy City has been... collecting them."

"Shit."

* * *

Uiharu tried to ignore the proximity of a rabid Kuroko. Normally, she would be having a blast at playing with the computer, using all the resources at her disposal to get what she wanted in the service of Judgement. But Shirai-san was breathing down her neck demanding to know what error happened to give her beloved Railgun such a duty for Work Experience Week.

"You know the entire system is semi-random, right? I mean, it won't give a job to someone who physically couldn't do it," she tried to explain through her flu-mask, but it was to no avail as Kuroko simply wasn't listening.

"There must be a mistake! Fix it, Uiharu! You must, for my sake, and hers!" Kuroko's fingers gripped the back of Uiharu's chair, causing the poor thing to creak under the pressure. "Please!"

Tapping the monitor, Uiharu drew her attention to the information at hand. "No, it's right." She didn't add that making a change like that could get them both into serious trouble. And she liked being in Judgement!

"Then who is she working for!?" The demand was shrill.

"It doesn't say..."

"Find out!"

* * *

Harms and Cole had taken a break from their discussion to grab a bite to eat, and to check on the latest repairs to the outer walls of the damaged prison. Finally, they returned to his office for more discussion. "I don't like this. Not one bit, Cole." Harms groaned as he sat in his chair. "We don't know when you'll come back, or even _if_. You vanish for a couple days, and I know the Gangs will get uppity."

"They won't have to know I'm gone," Cole countered. "I can do a couple serious sweeps through the Neon and the Warrens before I leave." He grinned at the thought. "Do a bit of being 'obvious' to keep their heads down." Cole paused as he considered Harms' other concern. "Besides, if this whole deal is a trap for me, I'm pretty sure they got nothing that can stop me." He flexed his fingers, arcing electricity between them in a demonstration of power.

"And then you would be on the other side of the Pacific, Cole. And I know how you and water react." The Warden saw the signs in Cole that he had made up his mind, and knew that there was nothing he could do to dissuade the saviour of Empire City from leaving on this trip. "I know the offer is mighty temping, but you have to think this through. The whole 'aid' thing, well, it's just so vague, I don't know what to make of it."

"I suppose I could make this signal they want, and see if they'll negotiate? I mean, I don't have the leave the City."

"And we can have some of my boys for backup if things go south." Harms knew he wanted some boots on the ground, just in case this was a trap.

"Alright then, I'll do it. When?"

"I think tomorrow morning will give me time to get a squad car or two freed up."

"Thanks."

* * *

The last echo of thunder rattled past the edge of the destroyed Fisherman's Wharf. Cole didn't want to come here, the memories of John's death were too vivid. But Harms was with him, offering his support. "I don't expect another response right away," Cole commented. "They'll probably send another message in a bottle rocket."

The two men turned away from the rising sun, heading for the point where the wharf met dry land. Harms gave a signal to his men, allowing them to disperse. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Think I'll head back to the Neon. Grab a bite to eat. There's a place over there that I like that's finally reopened."

"Oh? That's nice to hear. Which one?"

"Marcellos. Good pasta."

"I'll have to try it out then." The Warden promised casually as they reached the waiting car. "Cole, let me know when you get the message. I'll back you up any way I can."

"Pardon me, Mister MacGrath? My name is Mister Mori. I am from Academy City. Thank you for agreeing in part to our proposal." From behind them, a slight Japanese man spoke up, drawing the startled attention of both men, Harms – a hand on the holster of his pistol, while Cole had one hand up, ready to rain lighting on a potential enemy.

Cole was about to demand to know who this man really was when the words died on his lips. For Mister Mori, as he called himself, was clean. His suit was pressed immaculately, his hair perfectly cut, and for all of this, he was completely without a smudge of dirt or dust on him. He was _clean_ in a way no one in this city had been for over a month."I'm Warden William Harms. Can you provide some identification?" The Warden was used to dealing with people in places of power wearing suits, so he reflexively went for the first legitimate idea that he was trained for.

"Of course, Warden. My card." Mister Mori produced a business card from an inside pocket, presenting it to him. "I have been given leave to negotiate some of the details of our agreement. Is there a place we can discuss this?" He looked to the sky curiously. "Perhaps somewhere indoors? The weather forecast called for some light rain later this afternoon, and I do not wish to make Mister MacGrath uncomfortable."

Cole and the Warden exchanged glances. "3rd and Skyline down in the Neon. You can't miss it, it's got the green sign. I'll be waiting outside."

"Of course. Mister Mori, would you accept a ride from me?" He gestured to a squad car, and the Academy City representative bowed slightly.

"I would be honoured."

The three men were given the best seats in the house, the proud owner of Marcellos (who was not, in fact, Marcello) was beyond joy to have the two most important men in Empire City – and their guest – come to his door on his reopening. Nothing but the best was the order of the day for them.

"Pardon my inquiry, Warden Harms, but the information about the status of Empire City in the international community is limited." Mister Mori said as water was placed in front of them. "How did you come to be Mayor?"

"I'm not," Harms replied, taking a sip. "The 43rd District, which included the Penitentiary survived the blast very well. We became a strong-point in the efforts to retake the city from the gangs, and people started to look to me for leadership."

"What happened to the actual Mayor?"

"Killed in the Blast." Cole admitted sourly. "The City Council was in session when the explosion happened. They were less than a block away."

"I am sorry to hear that. For what it is worth, Warden Harms, in my opinion, you have done an admirable job."

"Thanks. But I'm not looking to run the city. Once the limits on getting in and out of the city are lifted, I'm going to make sure we get some elections going, and to make sure people don't put me in as a write-on ballot."

"I understand." The three waited, making small talk about the weather and other sundry items that were far and away from the actual reason for their meeting here. Finally, their food arrived, and they began to talk in earnest. "You have some reservations about our proposal?" Mister Mori asked as he carefully began to eat the spaghetti in front of him.

"A bit." Harms began, and began to talk about their suspicions over the timing of these events.

"I was told that we did receive your initial request, but by the time we could mount a proper response, your government had already closed off all avenues of help." The words would have to make due for an apology. "We have been monitoring the situation as best we could, updating our plans as time passed, so if you accept our offer, we can act immediately."

"How did you get in?" Cole asked as soon as Mori stopped talking.

"Boat." The response was just as quick.

"Funny. So, why?"

"There are many answers to that question, Mister MacGrath. One of our top physicians, Doctor Meido Gaeshi, was interested in how you are able to use your powers to heal people." Mister Mori paused in his explanation to eat some more. "I believe that was part of the initial offer? That you spend some time at one of our hospitals?"

"Makes some sense. I suppose you'd also want copies of the files from our hospital about me?" Cole enjoyed the hell out of that meatball as he waited for the response.

"While appreciated, that is not a contingent demand or request. Our facilities are beyond state of the art, and we have plans in place to work around your issues, Mister MacGrath."

"So, why Cole?" Harms asked carefully, "I know you've got Conduits in Academy City, so why all this interest in him?"

"Because he is a good man."

Cole glared. "I'm not." He knew in his heart that he could not claim to being the hero the people wanted him to be when he chose to sacrifice six doctors to save Trish, only for Kessler to know, and to make sure that even then, he failed. He glared at Mori, hoping to convince the Asian man that was the wrong way to go about complimenting him.

Taking his rage out on Kessler was cathartic, but he still felt... hurt inside.

"You acted out of love for your fellow man, Mister MacGrath. That is nothing to be ashamed of."

"I gotta agree with him, Cole. Kessler would have killed her, no matter what you chose." Harms had, with Zeke out of the way, been Cole's confidant in the days after the final battle. It was that confidence which made him come to the Warden when the message first came to him.

"Doesn't make it any more right."

"Still, it shows the direction of your moral compass. If you desire a more empirical reason, then consider that the number of people in Academy City who can do what you can, could probably be measured on one hand. Your healing ability alone is enough for the Board of Directors to make this offer in order to advance the cause of medicine."

Cole knew that Mori was tugging at his relationship with Trish. But it was still a legitimate thing as the Doctors at Bayview compared him to a walking AED at the worst of times. And if his powers could be used to help people, then why not?

The conversation continued for some time, the food growing cool as they talked details. Eventually, a final agreement was hammered out. Academy City would provide certain relief groups, especially to bring down Alden's Tower safely and a squad of Anti-Skills to cover for Cole during his absence. More immediate material supplies were already being handled by local disaster relief organizations, so Academy City didn't need to worry about that.

The final handshake occurred that evening. Mister Mori stood and bowed as his culture demanded, Cole and Harms poorly mimicking the motion before setting for a more Western means of thanking the eastern man. "If you do not mind, I would like to contact my associates now, and let them know the details of the final agreement. You can expect the first sea-planes with specialists tomorrow morning, and the rest will follow. Good evening gentlemen."

"Good evening." "Good night." The two who called Empire City home watched the clean man walk away, pulling a phone from his pocket and soon talking animatedly before he turned and vanished around the corner.

"You look like you want to say something, Warden."

"I still think you leaving is a bad idea."

"I've made up my mind."

"I know. But still, sleep on it." Harms looked up to the sky, at the developing second wave of storm clouds. "Who knows, maybe we can blame the weather for your absence."

"Maybe. Night Warden."

"Night, Cole."

* * *

"Give _it up_, Kuroko. You're not going to change this." Misaka sighed as she watched her roommate grumble over a well-worn sheet of paper. "I mean, it's not like I got given something like... garbage collector." For a moment, she wondered what _he_ had gotten, then dismissed it. Whatever it was, she didn't need to know, nor did she need to care.

"It's more than that, Onee-sama!" The teleporter complained, "It's that Uiharu couldn't find any information about who you would be working for! I can accept such a lowbrow job if your experience was of high quality! Yet, she couldn't discover the name of the company!"

"Maybe it's an individual?" Misaka grabbed her large teddy bear and held it over her head. "You know, someone that the City trusts as a courier, and they act privately?"

Kuroko was only slightly mollified by the suggestion. "Still, it is highly suspect!" She paused, drawing in a deep and exaggerated breath. "Maybe you're going to be a Diplomatic Courier, and will be taking a message to Russia!" She knew that relations between the superpower and academy City had been frosty as of late, and having the Railgun go forth as a diplomat would be more appropriate to her status.

"That's stupid. Get some sleep." Misaka rolled over herself, drawing up the covers. "You'll have a clearer head in the morning."

"Can I sleep with you then, onee-sama!?" Instantly Kuroko was above Misaka's bed, ready to dive in, permission or not. She tried stopping her with a small lightning bolt, then another larger one with the first failed to dissuade her.

* * *

Harms watched as Cole jumped off the power cables, the azure electric arc following him as he quickly used his power to angle his descent, carrying him out toward the waiting Warden and Academy City representative. Harms narrowed his eyes as Cole landed with a roll to dissipate any remaining static charge from his travel across the city. "How was the trip?"

"HEY! COLE! I LOVE YOU!" A random woman yelled out from the road, causing Cole to wave back blindly. "EEEEEEEEE!" The girlish squeal at the recognition carried much farther than the distance between her and the Electric Man.

"Quiet. Until now." Cole admitted with a groan as the woman's friends dragged her away. "I know you can't so anything to stop them, but please, Warden, could you like, get on the radio or something to tell people to stop that? It's... not always welcome."

"I promise nothing, but I'll see what I can do." Harms had no intention of following through, suspecting that any attempt to dissuade attention would only generate more. The attention of the people on their hero was far too much for him to overcome. "You get something to read?"

"Fourteen hour flight? Yep. Thanks for the heads up." Cole patted his courier bag, where the bulge of the paperback books could be seen if one looked carefully.

Once again, Harms hid the truth of the matter. He had talked to Zeke the night previous.

* * *

"Academy City? Dammit Warden! That place is freak central!" Zeke complained bitterly as he fidgeted in the Warden's office. "He ain't answering me, so why the hell is he off to that place?"

Harms explained the nature of the deal, and Zeke groaned. "Great. I mean, seriously? This is a place where they clone soldiers for Urban Warfare, have Conduits up the wazoo – including those who claim to be 'more powerful than God', have buildings with no way in or out, thirty-year olds who look eight, people who go around calling themselves 'magicians' and 'angels' – though I think them's just normal Conduits pullin' the wool over people's eyes – and hell Warden, even I don't believe some of the crazier stuff that comes outta that place!"

"But it's his choice, Zeke."

"I know! I know! Snakes alive, maybe what he really needs is a vacation. With the Blast, Trish, Kessler, and who-knows what else, Cole needs a break."

"I think so too. But do you think this is the right place for him?"

"Got no better options. As long as he keeps his head clear, that is." Zeke looked pained at Harms. "Please, Warden. Let my brother be alright."

* * *

"Cole, got a minute?"

"Sure. But when are these Academy folks supposed to arrive?"

"In another 10 minutes, Mister MacGrath." Mister Mori said, his suit just as clean as it was yesterday. "Please, take your time. On a journey of this length, a few minuets leeway is expected."

"Alright. What's up, Warden?"

They walked a few meters away from the cleared wharf where the two planes were expected to dock. "Cole, I saw you come off the line there. Are your powers alright? You seemed a bit more... intense. Like you were lighter, or something."

"I'm just getting more used to my high-end stuff that's all. Transit called me, started getting on my ass about the power drain from me riding the rails, said to keep it to the high-tension wires, which could take it better." Cole made an excuse, and Harms didn't buy it.

"It's more than that. Are you still growing stronger?"

"... A bit. Maybe. Not sure."

"Cole, if you want to back out because you're not well..." Harms found himself worried for Cole, not wanting to see him off in some other country in case something went wrong. He looked after the city in its time of trial, and the Warden would be damned if the city didn't look after him right back. "Just say the word."

"No. Thanks. I mean it." Cole slumped a little. "I know something of where my powers can go, so it's like I'm still growing. Going to that city isn't going to change that."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I am. Don't worry. I'm just getting stronger. I'll be fine."

"I want to believe that, Cole, but this is something completely different."

Cole put his hands on Harms' shoulders. "Trust me. Please."

"Alright. But you take care. And anyone gives you grief, you give them your special brand of hell."

"You know it, Warden."

From there, the two men rejoined Mister Mori in the early morning as two distant flecks of darkness came out of the dawn and resolved into two low-flying sea-planes. Cole was tense, waiting for some other shoe to drop. Some missile from the sky, or something to ruin everything. But there was nothing.

With delicate grace, the two planes settled into the water, twin sprays signalling their approach as they coasted to a stop by the wharf, where several officers with experience in anchoring boats and the like made quick work of the ropes to hold them in place.

Cole waited on solid ground as the Warden greeted their new arrivals as they formed up. It was obvious to him who were the 'Anti-Skill' people, and who were the civilians by the way they held themselves, and by how they looked at him. They knew who he was, and he wasn't going to show them any fear.

Mister Mori came up to him. "Mister MacGrath, thank you again for your agreement. Once you ware ready, please board the plane on the left. It has been refitted to accommodate your... special needs."

"Thanks."

"I will, of course, be joining you on your journey."

"Brave man, to be in a plane with me."

"Nothing of the sort, Mister MacGrath. I trust the engineers who made the refits, and I trust you."

The compliment was delivered smoothly, and Cole couldn't help but believe it for a moment. "Alright then."

The plane smoothly lifted off, leaving the islands of Empire City behind it. Cole sat in the shielded compartment, which allowed the aircraft to function without his electricity interfering. It was a small cabin, holding only four seats formerly occupied by a set of engineers who would help the locals restore functionality to Empire City's utilities. If he focused, he could see the faint outlines of them in the seats, the glowing green frame their natural bioelectric fields generated and retained in the surroundings.

Mister Mori sat across from him on the other side of the isle. "I have some papers for you to look over, Mister MacGrath."

"What?"

"Nothing serious. A finalized itinerary, and delivery contracts."

"What? Deliveries?"

"Of course. On the second day of your trip, you committed to doing 'personal demonstrations, am I not correct?"

"Well, yeah. But I thought that was doing stunts for politicians or something like that."

"Oh, no. Your arrival coincides with _Work Experience Day_. We have in our city, a girl by the name of Mikoto Misaka, who, like you, uses Electricity as her power."

Cole began to see what was being asked of him, but waited for Mori to finish. "It is the desire of Academy City that you spend the day with her to allow her to learn how you use some of your powers,. And to expedite this, we wish to contract you to perform certain deliveries that are non-critical throughout the day."

"What packages?" Cole's demand was abrupt. "Last delivery I made, I got promised a half-grand to check the package, and got a face full of explosion for my troubles," he said angrily, referring to the event that Kessler orchestrated for Cole's 'benefit'."

Nothing out of the ordinary, I assure you. Some financial reports for the Sister's Noise Project, and other sundry paperwork. These are things that are copies that must be delivered by hand, you understand?"

"That I get. So just make-work to show this... Meesahkah?"

"Misaka, yes. That is her family name."

"Miss Misaka how to do stuff. But I gotta tell you most of my stuff revolves around kicking ass."

"We are aware of your combat potential, but you also have non-combat skills you may choose to pass on."

"Induction Grind. Pulse Heal. Static Thrusters." Cole rattled off the names Zeke gave to some of his powers as he thought it over. "I suppose." He realized something was off. "Wait, how am I supposed to find this girl? Or her, me?"

"We will deliver to you more information once the last details are set in place, Mister MacGrath, which should be by the morning of your work. Ideally, you would meet her in front of her school at the start of classes, and from there your time is your own until curfew at 22:00. She should be back to her Dormitory by then."

"Makes sense." Cole had seen 'Bring your kid to work' days before, and this sounded just like that.

"I am glad for your understanding. Now, I have something to give you." Mori pulled a small card out of a pocket. "This is a temporary Identification Card for use in Academy City. It is also attached to a small expense account should you choose to make any incidental purchases during your stay." He handed it over to Cole, who examined it closely. The front of the card had his name written on it, as well as a photo he recognized as from his now-useless driver's license. There was a large '3' embossed underneath a whole slew of writing he couldn't read.

"Three?"

"A visitor classification. You're a foreigner brought in to perform a task for the City, and you should be treated in all regards as an Employee for the duration of your stay." Mori gave out the prepared lie with ease.

Cole grumbled a bit before checking the card some more, then sticking it into a pocket for ease of access. "What else?"

"This," Mori reached behind him to produce a small briefcase, "is a pair of prototype translation earpieces. By wearing this, it will translate Japanese spoken in front of you into English. While young Miss Misaka speaks English fluently, we cannot guarantee that everyone you meet will. This will allow you to understand them, even if they cannot you." He paused to let Cole think it over. "The crafters of these devices recognize that they are still in a testing phase, and would like to hear back from you about your experiences with them." He handed the case over to Cole who opened it carefully, finding a small pair of devices that would wrap around and into his ear.

"You want me to try it now?"

"If you'd like."

"Why not?" Cole gingerly picked it up, and was surprised when it didn't short out. He figured it must have been shielded as well.

Setting it into his ear, he looked at Mori, who rattled off a quick sentence in Japanese. "勘案にあって初めて市乳を知る " After a moment, Cole heard Mori's voice approximated in his ear. "Friends are known first in hardships." Cole repeated the proverb back, and Mori nodded. "That is what I said. Good. Now, let us discuss some details of your itinerary."

The two talked long into the journey.

* * *

Aleister had no time for doubts. Not with so much currently at stake. He watched through UNDERLINE into the plane currently holding his newest pawn. No, a Knight would be more appropriate to the symbolism.

Introducing Cole MacGrath (some wanted to call him the Thunder God without realizing that title was inaccurate) to Mikoto Misaka, the Railgun was a gamble, but a necessary one to give her a chance to learn different potential uses to her power.

And most importantly, he wanted to meet the man who would have become Kessler.


	2. Day One

**Day One**

Cole watched in some fascination through the porthole as the plane descended past the last of the clouds that spotted the sky to allow him his first unobstructed view of Academy City. His initial impression was that the circular city-in-a-city was far too... clean. Just like Mori, who true to his word, had stayed with Cole throughout the entire trip. Gleaming white-hued buildings rose from the plains and hills surrounding the river, capped with innumerable solar panels and wind generators.

He knew there was no shortage of places to draw power from, if things came down to it. "Nice city you got there," Cole offered some measure of appreciation to the man who shared the compartment with him. "Can't wait to get off this tin can and stretch." He rolled his shoulders to work some of the kinks out.

"Was our layover to refuel in Edmonton not enough?" Mori subtly shifted, trying to disguise his own desire to get out of the plane. "Do not worry, Academy City has its own airport, we will be landing there shortly. Then you can stretch."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Cole looked over at his courier bag, resting on the headrest of the seat in front of him. It was currently holding some documents which laid out his itinerary for the next two days. As it was, he got the rest of the day to himself in order to familiarize himself with the layout of the city. In addition to the maps, he had been given the addresses of the hotel he was going to be staying in, the hospital he would be helping tomorrow, and the school and dormitory the girl he was giving 'work experience' to the day after. He figured he would spend his time learning how best to get from point A to point B to point C.

"No problem, Mister MacGrath. I do apologize for needing to take my leave when we arrive. Are you certain you don't want a tour guide?"

"No, thanks." Not many tour guides could climb atop buildings and glide around like he could. Actually, he wasn't even sure what the city's stance on Urban Exploration was. He was just so used to being able to do it out in the open over the previous couple weeks that it came naturally to him. And now seemed like a poor time to ask.

He also doubted that Academy City was like New Marais, where the local cops were too busy with the more immediate pleasures their position gave them than watching for some guys jumping roofs. No, he would have to figure that out for himself.

He watched as Mori was driven away, the man going to make his reports in person, leaving Cole at the public entrance to the Airport by himself. Even standing there, he was beginning to sweat in the local heat. Though it was still the fall, his vague memories of world geography informed him that Japan was further south than Empire City, so naturally it would be warmer. He stripped off his jacket and tied it around his waist before resetting his bag over his shoulder. Now a bit more free to move, he began to jog along the road, heading in the same direction as Mori had left, on the theory that it would take him closer to the high towers of downtown in the distance.

After a couple hundred meters, Cole crested a hill and saw a better option laid out to his left. Over there was a large empty stretch of ground with the welcoming sight of a long set of High Tension power lines that were normally obscured from the sight of the road by trees and other foliage. Grinning, he changed his direction and quickly scaled the twenty foot chainlink fence that separated him from the much faster mode of transportation.

Ignoring the High Voltage signs that warned people of the danger of getting too close, Cole crossed over the empty ground, enjoying the giddy feeling growing his legs at the presence of the power lines. Third rails and inner-city power cords had nothing on the sheer _weight_ behind the massive structures in front of him.

He quickly ascended to the lower level of bundled cords and took in his surroundings, plotting which direction to go in order to get closer to the centre of the city, and not toward the source power plant that fed the lines.

He settled on going to his right, as that direction curved to the left around a set of hills and not back in the direction of the airport. Examining the heights available to him, he decided to go a bit higher and ride the middle length of line, as that would give him a chance to propel himself higher, or drop down in case there was an obstruction.

A minute later, surrounded by a halo which could have been mistaken for Ball Lighting, Cole tore through the air forward far faster than his feet could carry him.

Toshi Umezawa worked for the city as an electrical engineer. His duties included monitoring the voltage of the lines around the city, which could fluctuate wildly depending on the time of day, the equipment in use around the various scientific establishments, and on the bad days, the mood swings of a certain teenage girl.

Today was now looking to be one of the latter as he noted a drop in the primary lines leading to the Experimental Airport. It wasn't a consistent drain, as one might expect if there was some incidental damage to the line, but rather it was a low drain before vanishing for a moment, then returning. It was an odd thing, but well within the acceptable tolerances.

He quickly ran down the list of events this week that could cause such a drain – as they were supposed to be filed ahead of time – but found nothing.

Moving on to the next step, he let a maintenance crew know about the issue so that they could go examine the local stations to see if there was a problem there.

When his path crossed a transformer station, Cole dismounted a good five hundred meters away and used his forward grinding momentum to carry him to the outside fence of the power converters. He came down for a gentle landing on the soft grass, quickly orienting himself on the nearby apartments. Being closer to the city proper meant a great deal to him, as the ambient electrical charge, plus being in an urban area in general, made him feel a lot more comfortable.

He walked past the buildings and their common areas out to the street. Once he reached the sidewalk, an unfamiliar sensation tingled at the back of his neck. With a no outward sign, he actively pulsed an EM field, checking the feedback for anything out of the ordinary. In his mind's eye, he caught the general outline of the nearby buildings, as well as quite a few sources of electrical power he could drain.

And something else. Very close. With complete nonchalance at the possibility of a hostile Conduit spying on him, he stretched his arms over his head head, then kinked his neck from side to side, giving the impression of an after-jog stretch to anyone who was watching.

The source stayed still, but out of the corner of his eye, he could make out a bus stop where the source of the weird thing was. Someone was hiding in there, and they had chosen a poor location for it as he could simply walk over there and pretend to wait for the local bus. So he did, even going so far as to whistle a jaunty tune to complete the impression that he was just out for a casual run, and taking a ride home.

He got closer, occasionally pinging away. The reaction stayed still, apparently oblivious to his detection of it. It didn't react like anyone he had ever met before, but in this strange city, it wouldn't hurt to be too careful.

He reached the bus stop, and the resolution on his senses improved dramatically, like he had somehow gotten past a wall of interference that he wasn't really aware of until it was gone.

Trying to hide behind one of the thin walls of the small shelter was a teenaged girl, black hair and glasses, wearing some sort of uniform from what he could tell, given that she was staring at him with some mix of worry, apprehension, and curiosity.

"Yo," he announced himself casually, raising one hand in universal (or so he hoped) greeting. Certain that she was the source of the weird thing he detected, Cole decided the best response at this point was to ignore her, and see how she reacted.

"Hello," he heard her say through the translator.

They waited in slightly awkward silence, Cole sitting on the plastic bench, the girl staring at him from hiding. Finally, Cole had enough of that, and raised his hand again peacefully. "I'm," he said, pointing to himself, hoping she would understand, "Cole MacGrath."

"Kazakiri Hyouka," the girl responded, giving a slight half-nod, half-bow.

Silence descended again, forcing Cole to take another proactive step. "I ain't gonna hurt you. You don't have to hide." Then he mentally slapped himself, remembering that this was Japan, not America, and that he couldn't depend on people understanding him without a translator.

"What are you?" she asked in perfect English, causing Cole to do a double-take. "Where are you from?"

"Um...," Cole paused for a moment, processing her insistent enquiries. He answered her second question first. "I'm from Empire City. In America? Maybe you've heard of it?"

She nodded, clearly expecting him to finish answering her question. "You know, if you stop hiding, I'll be more comfortable talking." His attempt to draw her out failed as she only shrunk further behind the edge of the shelter. "Fine. You're acting like you've never seen someone with powers before. I thought the city was full of 'em. Like, over two million?" He still couldn't believe that number himself, but he had to realize that not every Conduit was born of the Ray Sphere. Hell, even Kessler was a 'natural'.

"No, you're not. You're not an Esper. You're not like..." she bit off her own words, like she was about to say something that she wasn't supposed to. "You're... _different_." She narrowed her eyes, studying Cole with an intensity he almost found distressing.

"Yeah? So?" Cole wondered what the hell she meant. Espers and Conduits were the same thing, right? Mori said as much. "I'm a Conduit."

"Conduit..." She rolled the word around, like she was tasting it, her shyness all but gone from her face. "Yes. I see know. I know what to look for." She ducked back behind the wall, causing Cole to jump up and dash after her.

But she was gone.

"What the hell?" He muttered into the empty air, every ping he gave off giving no return. He had a bad feeling about this, but there was nothing he could do. At least, not right now.

"No, Kuroko. That's final!" Misaka tried very hard to restrict her annoyance at Shirai's insistence that she carry some form of personal defence in two days time.

"But Uiharu cannot find anything about what you are supposed to be doing! This is far to suspicious!" The younger girl complained bitterly again about how she could not penetrate the defences around her elder's duties for Work Experience.

"Kuroko, I'm a Level Five." Misaka tried to placate her friend as best she could, "Do you really think the School, Academy City, or anyone else would put me in a position where I would be vulnerable like that?" Memories of the Sports Festival flickered through her head, reminding her of the recent events in which even in a 'safe' event, things could go wrong. "Look, I'll be on my guard. I'll even have my phone on me at all times, so the first sign of trouble, I'll call for you to rescue me." She offered a smile. "Is that alright?"

"It is better. Actually, you should check in ever hour. No! Every 30 minutes! No! Every 15 so that I can be certain of your safety!"

Misaka sighed. This was going to be a long negotiation.

Cole sat in the bus stop, thinking over his encounter. It was, honestly, his first non-hostile Conduit, and as such, he was hoping for something more than a shy girl telling him that he wasn't what she expected before vanishing into thin air.

He wondered first and foremost what her power(s) were. It was obvious that she was used to hiding. The vague sensations when he scanned the area, the more he rolled over his memory, seemed to be a way for her to avoid detection. So she could do that. Maybe she could go a bit farther and turn completely invisible to his multiple senses?

It made sense, in a way. She was just shy, and it manifested as an ability to hide. But if powers reflected personality, what did that say about him?

Some questions were better left unanswered.

A bus came up, and he waved it off, not wanting to short out or otherwise damage the electric vehicle. He could probably ride safely on the outside, but he didn't want to try to explain to some poor driver why.

Going back to his thoughts, Cole leaned back to enjoy the line of sunlight that crept into the shelter, sticking his feet out. He didn't get nearly enough natural light over the past month, and the warmth was a luxury for a city draped in cloud, ash and night.

Sure, he could heat water by running a current through a copper wire that was dunked in water, as Zeke figured out, but that wasn't the same as soaking it in.

What did she mean when she said that Conduits and Espers were different? Was she sensing something as part of her power-set? Observing, and hiding. How very spy-ish.

But no matter how much he thought it over, one simple fact appeared again and again in his mind as to what might be the source of any possible difference more specific than 'what your power is'.

The Ray Sphere. He was a Conduit, forced into his power by the detonation of that damned trap set by Kessler. Every other person with powers in Empire City could be traced back to that device. Except Kessler. Kessler grew into his powers naturally over the years. Like the Espers of Academy City. That was the difference that satisfied him. Espers were natural. Conduits were 'jump-started' by the Ray Sphere. It was as simple as that.

Although he also knew better than to advertise his artificial nature. It would be better to assure people that the words 'Esper' and 'Conduit' were simply the difference between Academy and Empire Cities.

As long as there wasn't a second Ray Sphere.

No. If there was, John would have said something. He was honest like that. And for more than a moment, Cole missed the man. He was pretty much the only one outside of Harms who didn't lie to, betray, attack or manipulate Cole in some manner. And that was something he missed.

Deciding to stay off the buildings and onto the streets in order to avoid unnecessary questions, Cole walked down the road toward the centre of the City. According to the map he had been given, the district with the most high-rises (and thus the best climbing opportunities) was the 7th District, which also, according to the information Mori provided, was the district with the Hospital he was supposed to visit the next day, and the school for the girl he was supposed to 'teach' the day after.

So it was naturally a good idea to get a sense for the layout of the land.

As he walked, he put skills unused for the past month back into exercise and to the test. His way of looking at the world around him had changed with the Ray Sphere and his powers, and this chance to go back to basics was good for him.

The first thing he noticed was that there was a lack of power lines overhead. This would make getting around a bit of a hassle, as he didn't have his bicycle. He missed it, but as it had gotten pulverized in the Blast, he never got around to replacing it due to everything else.

And besides, how would he know if this Misaka girl had one of her own? There were a lot of people walking, quite a few on public transport, and relatively few private vehicles compared to the Empire City of a month and a half ago.

While there was a lack of easy overhead transport, there was no lack of energy. Every time he pulsed, his awareness lit up like a Christmas tree of electricity available for the taking. Not that he did, as it wasn't his city, and the ambient power was enough. Nor was he getting into any fights that would require it.

He also recognized that unlike Empire City, which was built on three relatively flat islands in the middle of the river and bay, Academy City was constructed on the hills and valleys surrounding the single river that bisected it. This changed the flow of the roads for starters, as well as the construction of the buildings. At home, the roads were circular, mimicking the outlines of the island, with radial roads to connect the rings. It was semi-orderly, and allowed for a good flow of traffic, assuming one knew where they were going.

Not so in this city he now found himself in. Here, the lay of the land was far more important, the curves of the hills and the river limited the flow of the roads, forcing people to take the long way around the terrain, or to walk to get to where they are going faster.

From a courier's standpoint, Academy City was a mess of conflicting regions and designs - so very much an artificial city, designed whole and complete, rather than one that grew up naturally to take advantage of the growing population and new requirements.

It would actually be a fun challenge making his way around over the next couple days.

The flickering of an overhead light caused Cole to start, as it seemed that evening was falling far too soon. He checked his watch, a mechanical one he had 'acquired' after his powers fried the last electrical one, and then slapped his forehead. He had forgotten to reset it due to the time zones. And he had even been warned about that!

Looking around, he tried to spot a place with a clock available. Nothing jumped out at him when his eyes lit upon what had to be a department store several blocks down. It rose into the air for seven floors, and huge English letters on the front advertising it as the "Seventh Mist". It took him a moment to equate the name with the height and the outward colouring of the building, and he had to offer a knowing smirk for the connections.

As he approached, he turned his attention more toward the people on the street, and had to conclude that he stood out quite badly. Not even turning on the juice, he guessed, would give him more attention. His clothes were still messed up, torn and frayed from all the things he had gone through, and the fact that he wasn't a Japanese person meant that he was easy to pick out in the crowd.

And there were a lot of kids too. Not so many adults. Which was quite normal, if Mori was to be believed. Academy City had a population of less than 1/3 of Empire City, and most of it was involved with the education program. As such, the general population was weighted heavily toward school-aged kids, with adults being the teachers, leadership and other support jobs.

Accepting that he was probably twice the age of the average person on the street, he paid a bit more attention to the buildings themselves. There was a wide variety of facades to the buildings, though as this was apparently a shopping street, it was expected that more 'pretty' buildings would be around, rather than functional.

They would be fun to climb, but Cole had to stop himself from trying. Sure, it would have been easy to slip into one of those thin alleys and up the side of a building – he had done it many times before. But he was still a stranger in the city, and unlike the lawlessness of Empire City that allowed him to do what he wanted, he was certain that if he tried here, someone would call the cops on him.

"And tough luck explaining that to them," he muttered to himself as he stepped around a trio of girls in the same uniform chatting away, the leader of whom held a paper fan in front of her face. According to the snatches the translator provided, they were talking about the Work Experience over the next couple days.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed reasonable that the entire thing would take place over the course of multiple days. Just to distribute the load of having so many kids doing stuff all at once; not enough adults. No wonder they brought him in. Well, aside from being a walking lighting rod. He had to keep reminding himself that he really wasn't here to teach some kid the ropes of being a courier, but rather to help her with her electrical powers.

Right. Easy deliveries. Hard powers. What would he show her? All he could really do was fight, and that left precious little to pass on. Unless... "Hold on..." What if she was being bullied, or something like that, and needed to learn to use her powers to defend herself without hurting people? That made a lot of sense. He could show her a toned down version of the Shockwave...

Frowning at the descending sun, which again seemed to be happening far too early, Cole pulled the map out of his jacket and oriented by the landmarks on it. Once the sun set properly, he would take to the roofs and glide around the tops and sides of buildings. That would be fun.

Before he knew it, he found himself in front of the Seventh Mist. He had to be careful winding through the crowds as he didn't want to accidentally shock someone, or short out any of the many phones, music players or portable computers he saw. It was an effort, keeping his power contained, and he promised himself that he would just do this quick and get out where he could let loose for a few minutes.

Walking like he knew what he was doing into the open air... whatever it was called when you had a large open space as a lobby - Cole's internal lexicon failed – he quickly spotted the requisite map of the building standing in sight of the doors. A quick wait to make sure no one was nearby, and he went to see if they had a clock on it.

It did, and while he kept his distance when he saw his presence was screwing with the fancy electric interface, he backed away. After resetting his watch, he looked a bit again, one particular name standing out from the rest.

Huh, he didn't know that brand had stores outside the US. He grinned a bit more openly now, and looked around, debating the best way to get to the third floor.

His first option was to simply climb up the inside of the open space, there were certainly enough hand holds and other resources to use for that, but then again, free running would just get him into legal trouble. He didn't want to risk the elevators or escalators shorting out under him, though the escalators less so, as they would simply freeze and turn into stairs.

And he didn't want to inconvenience everyone else just for the sake of himself. He wasn't like that. Pacing for a few moments, he looked again at the map, and realized he was an idiot. It took a moment to find where the stairwells were. Concrete was a much better option. Hopefully they weren't alarmed, or else he'd have to risk shorting out an escalator. Quickly orienting himself, he walked against the grain of the crowd, aiming for the hidden corridor that was marked with a stairwell. Finding it, he checked to make sure it wasn't set to a fire alarm, and opened the door.

Behind him, following at a discrete distance, the local Judgement patrolman radioed in the latest action of the apparent Skill-Out.

He found the store with no issue. No one confronted him as he walked in and looked around. A retail associate approached him, but Cole waved him off politely, not sure if they could talk the same language, despite the translator in his ear. He found some solid material for a shirt and some tough pants. Apparently, based on the selection, there was a small free-running community in Academy City that he was tapping into by coming here; and for that, he was thankful.

Finally, Cole found what he was looking for and in his size too (apparently he was bigger than most people that the store normally sold to, imagine that). Grey and off-white shirt to replace his faded and bleached pale yellow, while a new set of jeans with a silver cross over his right leg would fit the bill for what he wanted. He kept his shoes and bag, seeing as they were still in good condition, and he wasn't about to give up his sac, given the patches and whatnot still attached to it. Besides, a good bag was hard to come by, and he wasn't interested in fiddling around with a new one yet.

He went to the front counter and put his purchases down, along with the cash card. Time to see if it would do what Mori promised it would. The woman behind the till quickly ran up the numbers, which Cole added in his head and came to about the same result. Content that he hadn't been ripped off, when the woman asked how he was paying, he tapped the card.

She ran it through, and the purchase was accepted. Cole kept the receipt just in case – after all, he was spending someone else's money, and he had worked in this business long enough to know when to keep records, and when to do stuff off the record. And this was definitely a moment of the former.

Thanking her in the fitful Japanese he picked up from the other conversations he heard and had translated, Cole left the store and oriented himself. There was a food court a floor above, and there would have to be washrooms up there. Back to the stairs then.

Emerging from the washroom, Cole felt refreshed, even though he hadn't touched the water, for good reasons. Clean clothes would do that to a man, and his new confidence was nearly physical. Looking around, he saw the time, and knew he should go faster than a stroll. Bag full, he quickly made his way through the thin crowd and back for the stairs, holding open the door for some teenager who was coming up himself. The teenage boy with the green armband looked surprised at Cole's politeness, and held the door open for Cole to go down.

Knowing it was clear, Cole descended quickly, hopping back and forth in a manner that would have been unsafe even as a Conduit. But he was sure of himself and he hit the ground floor running. He slowed as he passed through the shoppers, not wanted to knock anyone to the ground, then he was out the front door and picking up speed.

Misaka buried her head in her hands, thankful that Kuroko wasn't here to see her like this. "Hey, Saten-san? Could you hurry up with that tea? Please?"

"Here you go," the tall girl set the cup of tea down, glad that Uiharu always had a stash here in the Judgement office. "You feeling alright?"

"No, not really. I have a headache."

"Ouch. You spending too much time out in the sun?" A second cup joined the first, and Saten sat down across from Misaka.

"No, not like that. It's... oh, how do I put this into words. Like someone's been shouting in my ear, only not with sound, but with electricity."

"I... don't understand."

The Railgun winced as another pulse of electrical power washed over her. "You know the radar at the airport? Well, it's a regular thing, from a static location, with predictable output. I can tune that out. But for the past couple hours, there has been a moving source, doing the same thing. Short, intense pulses of power that have power, but no routine to them."

Saten tried to understand what Misaka was going through, but didn't have the right frame of reference. "You tried finding the source and asking them to stop?"

"It's in motion. Faster than I can run, and right now it's moving away." She sipped the wonderful elixir before her, thankful for Uiharu yet again. "And I didn't want to do anything to get Judgement or Anti-Skill angry with me this week. They have enough problems as it is with Work Experience."

"Tell me about it," Konori Mii called out from her desk. "We have a lot of twitchy people out there, over worked and stressed out. I've already had to talk to one volunteer from another district about falsely reporting Skill-Outs at the Mist."

"Should you even be saying that to us?" Saten questioned the head of the 177th Branch carefully.

"I'm stressed out too, and wanted to vent. I know you two are trustworthy." Mii sighed. "Though it was a mistake. Can you pour me some tea too? I could use it."

"Of course!"

"A wooden house." Cole looked across the street from his perch atop the light pole. He didn't really need to be up here, but old habits died hard. He also was practically invisible when cast in the shadow of the light below him, allowing him to see without being seen. Old habits.

This was the address of the hostel he was supposed to be staying at, and he could see and sense the lights and power flowing though it. Someone was home, probably a housekeeper, or something like that. It only made sense, he reflected, that they would put him up in a place where he couldn't short anything by accident.

Looking out for traffic on the other side of the road, Cole jumped off, and glided across, landing gently. He walked up to the front door, and checked himself in the reflection of the glass before knocking. The change of clothes had done wonders for his appearance, and he no longer looked like he was a raggedy vagrant. Though he could really use a good scrubbing.

Now ready to present himself to his host for the next couple nights, Cole raised his hands to knock when the door opened on its own accord, and an honest-to-god maid sat there on some sort of spinning robot. The young girl bowed somehow keeping her balance as she did so. "Greetings!"

"Um...hello?" Must be one of the cleaning staff. Though the outfit was silly.

"Oh! You must be MacGrath-san!" The maid raised her head. "My name is Tsuchimikado Maika, and thank you for staying here!"

"Sue-chee-what?" Cole was certain the translator spit gibberish at him, except that he was equally certain that he had heard that name rattled off her tongue before the device in his ear caught up. "Um, yeah. That's my name. You can call me Cole. Mister MacGrath is my father."

The girl put her hand over her mouth in shock. "Ah, yes. My apologies. I am a student at the Ryouran Maid School, and I will be your caretaker for the duration of your stay."

"I got a goddamned maid?" Cole expressed himself in the most eloquent manner possible. "What the hell kinda city is this?" Despite wandering around for a few hours, Cole was confronted by an example of just how weird... the City had to be with so many Conduits running around. Not that he had seen more than the one so far.

Glaring at Cole now, Maiko's robot kept spinning in place, which she accounted for with her usual skill. "Academy City is the best City in the world! We have the most beautiful and elegant ladies, the most wonderful festivals, the greatest schools, and the most wonderful big brothers!"

Cole was certain that the girl wasn't supposed to be talking like that, her enthusiasm in defending her city was only outdone by her enthusiasm in proclaiming what a wonderful brother she had. At least, he was sure that was enthusiasm. "So, can I come in?"

"Only if you apologize!"

"Uhhh... Sure. I apologize. You got a wonderful city." Apparently that wasn't enough, and with a sigh, Cole had to give in to the desires of someone probably less than half his age. "And I think your brother is a wonderful person."

"You can come in now, Cole!"

The maid on the robot escorted Cole to his room, which was, she bragged, in the style of the classical Edo period. The sliding paper doors he treated gently as he found himself in a room about the size of the the kitchen and dining room in the apartment he shared with Zeke. There was a flat mattress to one side with sheets on it. The rest of the room was sparse, as though it was meant to hold more people,or to have more furniture.

"I will be preparing supper, Cole. Please take a bath in the meantime." The maid made her opinion of his current state of cleanliness apparent. "I was told that you needed special precautions for your cleaning, so I've acted in accordance with the instructions I've been given."

"Thanks. So, um, would you mind if I asked you a few questions at supper? I just got into town, and have some."

"I can do that!" With that the maid turned and left, leaving Cole to yell after her; "Where's the bathroom?"

Cole had supper, consisting of rice and meat. He suspected that he wasn't getting a great meal, but didn't complain given the stuff he'd eaten over the past month. Maiko had, after he let her know that she didn't have to stand on ceremony on his account, joined him for the meal.

"So, you speak English pretty good."

"Of course! Learning a second language is required!"

"Nice to know. So, is this part of your Work Experience duties too?"

Maiko nodded. "My curriculum, already being vocational based, puts me in a position of not needing to participate directly in the Work Experience day. Instead, my work here substitutes for it."

"Nice!" Cole raised a glass in salute. "So, I have a couple questions about the city itself..."

Misaka emerged from the shower with her towel in position. "Hey, I'm done," she called out to let Kuroko know that she was emerging, preparing herself for the inevitable onslaught of Kuroko being Kuroko.

Except it didn't happen. She was busy getting ready for bed herself. It was odd enough that the older girl forced herself to understand it as real. "You feeling alright?"

"No, Onee-sama," Kuroko admitted, and for a moment, Misaka saw that she was _tired_. "It has been a long day for Judgement, getting ready for the next two days.

In sympathy, Misaka asked, "How many do you have to deal with?"

"A group of five tomorrow. Uiharu has her own group to lead as well."

"Ouch." She slipped over to her bed, not completely ungrateful. "And you have to do it again, the day after."

"Not really." Kuroko yawned, surprised that she let down her guard that much. "Branch 177 is tomorrow, we're on duty the next day covering Branch 187's territory as well as they do their Work Experience. Tomorrow, they are covering us."

Misaka narrowed her eyes. "I've never understood the numbering system Judgement uses for their Branches. How is 187 adjacent to 177?"

"Oh, the first two is the Branch number, the last digit – or two – is the District we're in."

"So how do you tell the difference between... say, the Second office in District 11, and the Twenty-First in District one?"

"Oh, Onee-Sama, join Judgement and you will find out!"

"Good night Kuroko." Misaka rejected Kuroko's half-hearted attempt to recruit her half-heartedly.

"Good night."

Cole would completely deny that he snuck out of the house after midnight to go for a late-night rooftop run. And he would deny that he did anything... karmic on his little excursion.

And he would also reject any notion that it was because he wanted to avoid the dreams.

If anyone asked.


	3. Day Two

**Day One**

In the morning, Cole woke to the gentle knocking of the maid, reminding him of the hour (which in his opinion was way too damned early) and that breakfast would be served shortly. Pulling himself awake, he gave himself a quick jolt off a power socket to refresh himself before trying to hunt down his clothes. He found some simple robes that Zeke would have commented made him look like some sort of Jedi – assuming Zeke wasn't running for his life. "Hey? Maika?" He had gotten used to saying the name last night, though 'Tsuchimikado' still defied him. "Where's my stuff?" He walked toward the dining room, a quick check on his other senses allowing him to relax with the lack of hostility in the area.

"Well, Cole, they really needed cleaning, so I put them in the laundry. They are currently drying now, though I am concerned that some of them will need to be replaced soon."

"Tell me about it," Cole snarked as he smelled something cooking. "Five, six weeks with only a couple changes of clothes. They could use a good wash. Hell, I needed that sponge bath last night, thank you."

"You are welcome!" The girl came out of the kitchen, still on the robot with something that was apparently food, but Cole had no idea what it was. "I'm sorry, I don't have much experience with Western meals, so I went with a more Japanese style."

"Eh, I suppose I should try it." Cole sat down awkwardly and waited to be served, reminding himself that this was closer to being in a restaurant than a hotel. "Am I really the only person here?"

"Well, if you're asking the question I think you are, Cole, then it's just a slow tourist season, and a lot of people come to Academy City for the sights, not to be in an old style house."

"Huh." Cole digested that information as he ate. He must have been hungrier than he thought, as he quickly demolished the food in front of him with gusto. Maika barely hid her glee at his empirical approval of her skills.

"Everything should be done by now, Cole. I'm going to get your clothes." The maid spun her ride around, and headed back through the kitchen and out the back door where Cole knew a clothesline had been strung up.

He leaned back, eyes closed, resting at the knowledge that he could just relax today.

Kuroko asked the girls who were following her to take a seat as Konori Mii gestured for her to come over. "What is it? I have my group to lead around."

"There was an incident last night in the 12th district. A woman was being mugged when someone used electrical powers on the muggers, knocking them both out."

"And they suspect Misaka?" She hastily tried to remember if her roommate had sneaked out the night before, only to draw a blank. "What sort of powers?"

"The victim reported that two Skill-Outs approached and cornered her, demanding money. As she was calling for help, two lightning bolts hit both attackers square in the back of the head, knocking them unconscious. Her rescuer didn't stick around for Judgement or Anti-Skill." She handed Kuroko a small file, which the teleporter flipped through.

"Wasn't her. She was in the dormitory at the time, and this isn't her style. According to the report, the shots came from the building across the street, which was also six-stories up. She would get up close and personal, or pull out the Railgun." Kuroko handed the papers back. "Has to be someone else."

"Thank you, I'll let the 1412th know."

"Anything else?"

"Not really. Have fun with your group today!"

The Hospital was given a name that he couldn't read. It probably meant something in Japanese, but Cole was damned if he was going to spend time trying to figure that out. Instead, he circled around past the small playground that was currently empty and into the building proper. It was like any other hospital, but not nearly as crowded as Bayview got over the length of the Quarantine. Those were bad days, which stretched even his powers to help people.

He knew the doctor he was supposed to meet had an office near the top, so he headed for the stairs again. This time, his familiarity with hospitals in general allowed him to identify where they would be through logic and experience, rather than through asking questions and reading a map.

Headed down a wide corridor, Cole paid careful attention to his surroundings. He remembered that one of the reasons why he was called here was to show off how he did his healing trick. While the thought of helping others didn't annoy him, he was wary of doing so here and now. He knew his trick wasn't perfect, but it did get people back on their feet long enough to get some real help.

And he didn't need to know the language for when someones yells to 'Get out of the hall, emergency coming through!' – you move. Cole jumped back, back flat against the wall as he recognized the signs of people who needed to be in a certain place _now_ and there wasn't anyone who would get in their way and not regret it.

Except someone was in the way. A young girl who seemed to be paralyzed at the incoming emergency. Without thinking, Cole left the safety of the wall and grabbed the girl, pulling her back as the doctors ran past. Then he had a chance to look down at her. Brown hair, wearing a small dress, she couldn't have been more than ten. Over her shoulders was an adult's sized white shirt that she was using as a jacket. "Be careful!" He said as he let her go, "You gotta watch out better!"

Then he realized that she probably didn't speak a lick of English. He had to settle for a glare.

"Misaka Misaka thanks the wonderful stranger for pulling her to safety like a gallant knight in shining armour, she says as she bows politely to the man!" The girl's voice was way too cheerful, and the translation took a moment to catch up. "Misaka Misaka would like to know the name of her saviour, she politely asks as she holds her bow."

Cole realized that, yes, the little girl was narrating her own actions. Which was stupid, but what could he expect from a child? "Cole MacGrath," he said carefully. "Where's your parents?" He berated herself for forgetting the whole language thing. "Um... Mama? Papa?" Maybe that would work.

The girl raised her head, and looked at MacGrath. "Misaka Misaka expresses her confusion. Is the man's name Colu MacuGratu, she asks as she tries to form the words form another language in her mouth."

"Uh... Yeah. Just call me Cole." He looked around quickly, trying to find someone looking for a little girl, as she obviously wasn't a patient. Probably her parents were then, cause it was obvious she wasn't here for Work Experience. Kids that young had no place in a hospital. He kept a hand on her head, gently keeping her from running off when his search was ended for him.

"Hey Brat! What are you doing?" An angry young man hobbled across the hallway now that it was clear, and in the moments before normal traffic resumed. Cole looked him over, and instantly didn't like him, with his bleached white hair, the angry look on his face and his general body language all spoke volumes about how he wasn't a nice person. The only mitigating factor to all this was that he was leaning heavily on the crutch. Cole changed his opinion to this boy using his words to make up for the injury.

"Accelerator! Misaka Misaka has met a very important man who understands Japanese, but doesn't speak it, she saids loudly as she attempts to escape the man's hands to return to Accelerator!" Catching the hint, Cole let her go, and this girl ran over to the boy and stared at him. "She was rescued by him, and needs to know how to thank him, she asks, hoping for an honest answer!"

"Then bow and say thank you, you _ahoge_."

Cole didn't know what that was, but he was pretty sure that he just insulted the girl. Trusting in the language barrier, he crossed his arms and glared down at the kid, "Hey, why don't you be a little more polite? She's just a kid."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand, you foreigner!" The boy snapped back in decent enough English, causing Cole to reevaluate him again. This time for the worse.

"You know, I get you might not have been able to get her out of the way, limp and all that. But that's no reason to be mean to her. So why don't _you_", he emphasized this by making a mock push with one finger at the boy's shoulder - he knew better than to actually hit a patient - "apologize to her for your language."

The boy threw a look of pure spite at Cole, his body tensing. "You wanna die, you asshole?"

Cole responded by drawing himself to his full height, towering over the white-haired boy. He projected an utter confidence in himself, knowing full well that he could take anyone in a fight. Especially someone with a limp.

"STOP FIGHTING!" The girl yelled out in accenting English, "Misaka Misaka now speaks English, Misaka Misaka announces cheerfully she says as she convinces the Sisters to translate for her, pumping her hand in the air in a triumphant manner!" The girl did as she narrated, causing the Accelerator and Cole to roll their eyes in annoyance. "Misaka Misaka now asks again who her rescuer was!" She put herself between the two antagonistic males, stopping them from doing anything more than glaring at each other, and offer threatening body language.

"I'm Cole. And you are?"

The girl paused, tilting her head as though listening to something in her ear. "Last Order, Misaka Misaka announces as she bows in polite greeting. Then Misaka Misaka introduces Accelerator to Cole MacGrath."

"Last Order Misaka?" Cole wasn't sure what to make of that. "I think my translator may not be working." He took the device out of his ear and gave it a quick tap before putting it back in. "Try that again, please."

"No, we don't have time for this." The Accelerator growled as he stepped away from Cole. "Come on, brat."

"Wait, Misaka Misaka cries out as she realizes something with certainty!" She spun around to face Cole again, "Spinning around to make her accusation, she says that Cole MacGrath is an ElectroMaster! Possibly Level Five!"

"What now?" Cole replied, amusement in his voice covering up his concern at how the little girl identified him so quickly. And that the boy had frozen before turning around to evaluate him like a real threat, rather than just a blowhard. "What makes you say that?"

"Misaka Misaka proudly announces that she's a Level Three Electro Master as she does a pirouette in place! She also announces that she could sense your powers when you touched her hair!"

"Really now?" Cole's bemusement was more honest this time. "What can you do?" This time he feigned some interest. "And wait a minute. You said your name is Misaka? You related to Mikoto Misaka?"

"Misaka Misaka denies being related to the great and wonderful big sister Misaka Mikoto, who is sometimes called the Rai*ack*!" Last Order stopped as Accelerator bopped her on the head. "Misaka Misaka begins to cry as she wonders why Accelerator of all people would hit her in a Hospital, regardless of Misaka Misaska's personal feelings..." She began to sniffle, which somehow managed to make the white-haired boy even more indifferent, Cole smirking at the sight. Her babysitter obviously didn't like her antics, but kept himself under some semblance of control.

"Hey, would it make you feel better if you showed me a little bit of your power?" Cole knelt a little and held up his hands, palms facing each other. As the girl looked on, he started to send little bolts of electricity between them, putting on a multi-coloured light show with the dancing lighting.

Last Order watched, entranced for a moment before regaining herself. "Misaka Misaka can make electricity too! Watch!" Ignoring the boy behind her, Last Order scrunched up her face hard, and quickly a static charge built up around her head. Warily, Cole put out his hand, just in case. The charge built up more and more, and Cole realized he'd have to stop it before she shorted something out in her desire to show off. He reached out and drained just the barest joule from the girl's hair, causing the electricity to take the path of least resistance.

Into him. He barely felt it, having been used to drawing off third rails and right off the power grid of Empire City. But the jump of power caused a snap of electricity to echo through the corridor, gaining the trio a lot of attention. At the end of his rope, Accelerator grabbed Last Order by her collar and started to drag her off, muttering about stupid girls and stupid foreigners and stupid Electro-Masters.

"Misaka Misaka implores Cole Macgrath, she says as she is dragged away, to not let the Railgun know that he met Misaka Misaka here, she calls out as her voice fades away...!"

Cole smiled, then turned away, ignoring the looks of the hospital staff. "Oh, I won't tell," he promised to the empty air. "I don't want to tattle to your big sister that you've been playing hooky from class."

He very carefully refused to think, as he got into the stairwell, that this meant that if the girl and her sister shared powers, that meant that a Conduit's powers could be hereditary. And that Kessler had children, killed by the Beast. He didn't want to sympathize with that bastard. Not one bit.

The Network was alight as 20001 reported her encounter in her own unique manner. Several Sisters in America reported that the name was the same as the terrorist wanted in the attack on Empire City and 20001's sense data of his face matched the criminal information, although 12319 reported that Kessler, also of Empire City, was an Electromaster from her one encounter with him, and thus they could not make certain assumptions.

A quick poll was taken, and it was decided that a Sister in Academy City was to watch this Cole MacGrath from a distance, in case he was planning to do something wrong. 11111 was briefly considered before she reported that her own commitments with her roommates would be hampered, and she did not want to risk them attempting to kill her for non-participation. 10032 was also engaged, and could not attend. 19090 was available, as was 13577 and 10039, so the three of them agreed to rotate observation of MacGrath. Care had to be taken, the Sisters agreed, as he was a powerful Electromaster, and would probably win in a confrontation with them.

There was another poll to determine if they should warn the Original of his presence, but the vote was narrowly in favour of not, due to her desire to act independently of the Network.

Cole carefully matched the symbols on the nameplate with the symbols on the letter telling him who to meet. Below the Japanese writing was "Heaven Canceller" written in parenthetical English. "Huh." He stood straight, and knocked.

"Come in," his translator provided, and Cole opened the door.

Dude has a face like a frog, was the first thought across his mind. The second was to introduce himself. "Hello. I'm Cole MacGrath. I'm supposed to be here for an appointment?"

The Doctor looked up to him for a moment in confusion, then recognition sparked a smile of happiness across his face. "Yes! Yes! Please, come in and have a seat. I was just reviewing some things for other patients, so please wait a moment." He spoke perfect English, and Cole began to seriously wonder if the translators in his ears were even useful at all.

"Thank you," Cole sat down as the elderly doctor quickly scanned over some scans of someone's head before shuffling them into a folder and out of sight.

"Well, thank you for my selfish request," the Doctor said, bowing slightly in his chair. Cole recognized the motion as his way of apologizing, and so he waved it off.

"Not at all. I could use a break from the City," Cole admitted casually. "Although I'm at a loss as to how you wanted to go about this, given that I've already tried at Bayview."

"Ah, yes. That shouldn't be a problem. I heard about their damaged equipment, and I petitioned the Board of Directors to offer replacements. They agreed, though the financing is still up in the air. Academy City doesn't have a large budget for disaster relief in other nations." Heaven Canceller stood up. "Would you care to take a walk? I would like to explain what I am looking for as we go to the testing chambers."

"Uh, sure." Cole held the door open for the small man as they left his office and back toward the elevators. "But we should take the stairs. Elevators and I don't mix well."

"Huh? Oh?" The Doctor seemed confused before Cole ran some electricity between his hands. "Oh, that. No, our facilities are shielded against such things, and the elevator has mechanical backups." He kept walking to the elevators, an apprehensive Cole following close behind. "And we also have other electromasters riding it on occasion, so I am certain that you will not cause any trouble."

Cole couldn't shut down his worries as the door opened. "So, um, what did you want me to do?"

"Well," Heaven Canceller said as he waited for Cole to cross the threshold, "I have prepared a couple training dummies for your powers. At first report, your actions seemed like an AED in nature, but the details showed your power was a bit more broad than that. These dummies can simulate many injuries, and I wanted to observe your powers in action before attaching some monitoring equipment to you."

"I'm not sure that'll work," Cole confessed, looking for a flaw to exploit. "I mean, they're dummies right, not real people? I don't know if my thing will work on them."

"I have faith in your power to save people, Cole. Please have faith that my equipment is up to the task of learning from you."

The doors closed, and the elevator descended. "We are heading for the basement for this. We have properly isolated chambers down there."

"You're going to lock me up?" An edge of worry and caution worked its way into Cole's voice, and the frog-faced doctor shook his head with a smile. "No, my boy. I'll be in there with you for starters, unless you ask me to step out. It's just that we also have MRIs and other such equipment in the building, and I want to avoid contamination in the electromagnetic spectrum."

"Ah." That made a lot of sense to Cole as the elevator stopped and a trio of nurses came in, bowing to the Doctor while Cole shuffled to the back to give them room. They got off on the main floor, leaving the two men alone for the last part of the ride. "You... important for the hospital? They seemed pretty deferential around you."

The Canceller sighed. "Yes, somewhat. I have a reputation. As long as you are not dead when you reach me, I can save you. It was a proud proclamation that I made in my younger days, and my skills have only grown since then. They respect me because I have not lost a single patient."

"Never? I've plenty of docs, and they all have had someone die on them." Anyone who claimed to save every life they could in Empire City was a liar, him included.

Gaining a far away look his eyes, the Doctor seemed lost in his memories. "Sometimes, Mister MacGrath, I wonder what would have happened if I was less than what I am. But I am not, and I cannot regret my decisions. I have made my Hippocratic Oath, and I will stick by it for as long as I am able."

"I hear you." The doors opened into a well-lit corridor, and Cole fell in behind the Doctor. "So is that why you're called 'Heaven Canceller'?"

"A bit. Forgive me, but I have long since stopped using the name I was born with. Everyone knew me by that appellation, so I let it stick. Ah, here we are!"

They turned into a small room that Cole recognized not by the instrumentation, but by the general layout as a control room. On the other side of a layer of glass was a room with some plastic tables set out, and the promised dummies laying on them. "I will be observing the tests directly, while the equipment is automated." He walked through a pair of doors first, leaving Cole to follow.

He stopped, like something was wrong. He pulsed, and found the only power sources were inside the dummies. Smacking his lips he looked around, fidgety. "Is something wrong, Cole?"

"Not really. This room. It's too sealed. I don't like being in places without power, don'tcha know? It's like I'm thirsty."

Furrowing his brow, the Heaven Canceller considered this. "Back out then. I may need to check something first."

They left, and Cole relaxed in the sudden increase in the surrounding electrical power. "That's better."

"Hmm, a response to ambient energy...?" The doctor produced a notepad form his pocket and began to scribble some notes. "This could affect you, and I need to know. Is this a regular occurrence?"

Not wanting to reveal any possible weaknesses, Cole shook his head. "No, but when I'm in a powered down area, I just don't feel comfortable, at all. I can still use my powers fully." He deliberately kept out how his vision was affected, and his general sluggishness. The downside to being an Electrical Conduit.

"Hrm. Based on your reaction, it's an either-or proposition." Heaven Canceller set down the notepad and looked up at Cole. "If you're feeling up to it, as the symptoms are just psychosomatic, then we can continue at your discretion. Or we can set up somewhere else, another facility."

Grateful for the opportunity to not do anything, Cole could only shake his head. He wasn't about to trample over Trish's memory by aggravating a doctor. "Nah, though I may come out every so often to relax."

"Now, that I understand. I'll just think of it as a stress reaction for now. Now, the first experiment will be to see how your powers affect a simulated, normal, healthy body."

They worked at it for a couple hours, Cole constantly healing the two mannequins of their various ills. After a bit, Heaven Canceller asked permission to put a portable EKG machine on Cole's head, with various wires running down to his hands. Cole agreed after it was explained to him that this was to allow the Doctor to record what went on in his head and hands when he used his powers.

When they took a break for lunch, Cole asked what he had learned so far.

"Well, the details are all very complex, but there are some things I can say for certain right now. But first, I must ask – how much experience do you have with medicine?"

"No much," Cole admitted. "Trish signed me up for a first aid course from the Red Cross. Said I should know these things. Covered the basics, like elevating wounds, and CPR."

"Hrm. No formal training at all?"

"Nope."

That caused the Heaven Canceller to consider his conclusions carefully. "It would appear then, Cole, that your healing power, is, at its core, a 'supercharge' of a person's normal bio-mechanical rhythm. You give your patients the ability to overcome their initial trauma, and keep them alive long enough for their body to heal itself using your power, or to reach proper treatment."

"That.. sounds about right. But people can relapse." He remembered trying to heal people of Sasha's goo, only for them to come right back and attack him. "And is that how I heal myself?"

"Most likely." The doctor filed away the fact that this power was capable of failing in such a manner in the back of his mind. "Although as the source of your power, you are capable of using your own bio-electricity to heal yourself more completely than someone else.

Like draining down a building's power to restore himself, Cole admitted to himself. "I can see that, yeah."

After lunch, they returned to the testing room, where Cole showed off his healing skill for a couple more hours on a variety of problems with the dolls before the Doctor called it a day. "Thank you, Cole. You have given me much to think about." He bowed as he and Cole left the room, having sent the data ahead to be processed.

"Any thing already popping into your head?" Cole asked, not wanting this trip to be a waste. He flexed his shoulders, for after spending the day cooped up, he just wanted to be outside in the sun.

"A few ideas, yes. It will take some time to properly devise tests and experiment. All in all, this was a very productive day!" The Heaven Canceller smiled warmly, very pleased with the results he had received. "I wish you could stay for longer, to assist us even more, but I understand you have your own responsibilities to attend to."

Cole nodded, tossing down a bottle of water. He wasn't really using any energy, but it was still exhausting to perform the same actions over and over. "Hey, Doc, I got a question for you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. What's with this 'Level' thing I've heard about. Like Level Three or Level Five...?" Cole made his enquiry casual, in case the comment from the little girl was misplaced. He didn't think so, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

"Ah. Yes, I suppose you would be curious about that." The Doctor pondered how to summarize the ranking system of Academy City. He decided to go with the majority of the public line. "Academy City measures the power of our Espers on a ranking system from Zero through Five." He waited for Cole to signal his understanding before continuing. "Zero is for people without powers, plain and simple. After that, the various levels represent increasing ratings in terms of raw power, skill and utility; a person could be ranked Level One even if they possess more raw energy than a Level Three, but lacked any sort of skill, finesse or control."

"Makes sense."

"What prompted the question?"

"Oh, I met a girl in the hospital who made a comment about me. She said she was a Three, and thought I was a Five." He quickly relayed the vital information about his encounter with Last Order.

Heaven Canceller mulled this over. "Mister Cole, it takes weeks of testing to determine relative Level rankings. And Five is reserved only for the best of the best. In the whole of Academy City, there may be thousands of Three's, hundreds of Level Fours, but only seven Level Fives. To imply you are amongst that company would raise a great many issues that would only cause many problems over your short stay here."

"I see," Cole didn't, really. "Well, it's not like I'm going to be sticking around that long. So I won't worry about it."

Smiling at avoiding that particular issue, the Doctor moved on to a different subject. "I hear you are going to be in town for another day or so. Being a tourist?"

"Nah. I was asked to help out with Job Experience training." Cole waved one hand in the air to show he was ambivalent about the whole thing. "Going to be making some deliveries while dragging some girl along for the ride."

"I see. I wish you well in your duties, Mister MacGrath."

"Thanks." The two of them stood in the lobby of the hospital, the afternoon light spilling through the glass partitions. "Hey, Doc?"

"Yes?"

"If anything comes of what you learned from me, could you let me know? I mean, I want to see if what I went through can really help people or not."

Heaven Canceller beamed with pride. "Of course! It may take a little while though, I must say. But I have no doubt that your powers of healing will be of great service to the whole of humanity some day!"

Cole smiled, a slight tug on his face. "Thanks Doc." He offered a hand for shaking, and it was kindly taken. "I suppose I should get going. Let you do your work, and me mine."

"Of course. How shall I contact you?"

"Eh, probably plain old-fashioned mail." Cole shrugged. "Empire City still has a few vital necessities not working. Could take a while to get those fixed up. Send it to Warden Harms, and he can get it to me from there."

From there, the two men parted ways amicably.

The Heaven Canceller returned to his office, deep thoughts masked under his polite face. He locked the door behind him, and sat at his desk.

Then his phone rang.

He knew who was on the other end. The timing was too perfect. A second ring, and he sighed before picking it up.

But before he could, he remembered all the pain and suffering that man put his patients through. And for all his work, he had to keep his promise to sever all contact with Crowley.

The phone kept ringing, long into the night.

Misaka had offered to move paperwork for Mii and Uiharu, shuffling them around, into and out of boxes as they worked. It was scut work, pure and simple, but it did keep her occupied. Kuroko had been in and out all day as she had a second group of children put into her care at some point.

Fishing another folder's worth of paper from Uiharu's printer, she let the girl with the flowery headband know that the printer was running low on ink.

"Oh! Thank you senpai! I'll go get a replacement right now." She got up to start looking for one, and Misaka's attention was drawn to what was currently on the screen.

_Electro Master attacks on Skill-Out_

When Uiharu returned, Misaka was long gone.

Evening fell on his first full day in Academy City, and Cole's radio chirped, "Mister MacGrath?"

Walking along the street, Cole didn't break his stride as he clicked on the transmit button. "Who wants to know?" Strange voices always spelled bad news.

"I am the General Superintendant of Academy City, Mister MacGrath. My name is Aleister Crowley."

"So?" Cole stepped around a knot of ladies chatting, holding bags full of food from their shopping trip.

"You have a meeting with me this evening, that I may uphold my end of the bargain between you and Academy City. Are you free now?"

Cole looked around. He was comfortable with the general lay out of the city now, and already had a couple different routes planned out for his jobs tomorrow. "Sure. I've got some time. Where did you want to meet up?"

"Thank you for your discretion in this, Mister MacGrath. Can I call you Cole?"

"Nah. Let's keep this all business." Cole ducked into a side street that was just wide enough for him to climb up to the rooftops. "City Hall?"

"No. I have a place set up for our meeting. Two blocks north of the Windowless Building to your west is a white building with a yellow radio antenna on it. We shall meet there, at your convenience."

Cole fixed the description in his mind, and recalled that yes, he had seen that empty building made of black on his travels, but the place just radiated bad things, so he avoided it. "I know where it is," he said over the radio, sending out a Pulse to feel for the return signal from where he placed his mental marker. Zeke called it waypointing based on the geo-magnetic field of the earth, but for Cole, it just meant that he could mark a place down in his head, and always know what direction it was. "No sense in delaying this, I'll head right over."

"I look forward to speaking with you then, Cole."

Misaka felt that surge of power, and angled toward it. It made an absurd amount of sense. There was another Electro-Master in the City, one that almost gave her a bad name for attacking from out of sight.

So, maybe she was over-reacting, if Kuroko's harsh phone call was any indication. But after spending all day in the Judgement Office (even though she _did_ volunteer), she could really use to go out and do something about what was bothering her.

And besides, as the City's most powerful Electromaster, wasn't it her responsibility to make sure that they didn't get a bad reputation?

Her first point had been to find a Sister, and ask them, and the one she found first (not 10032, oddly enough) had replied that they were not responsible for the actions before making her excuses and leaving.

With that out of the way, her only real lead was the EMP being emitted far more erratically today than yesterday.

Cole dropped out of the sky onto the designated building, slowing his fall into a gentle landing. Looking around, he saw the antenna as promised, though it wasn't active at the moment; probably receiving.

"Ah, Mister MacGrath. Thank you for your prompt arrival."

The familiar voice was all that kept Cole from spinning around, ready to launch thunder and lightning. "Mori."

"Come with me, please."

"Sure. Nice place you got here. What's it do?"

"This building houses one of Academy City's communication centres. We felt that being in a place like this would put you at some ease."

"I'm supposed to be meeting the Superintendent," Cole said as they descended through the building's internal fire escape. "Seems like an odd place for that."

"Ah, he has certain unique requirements that prevent casual face to face meetings," Mori explained as he opened a door that led to a well lit hall that ended in a large window through which the growing twilight could be seen. "This way, please."

Cole was introduced to a large conference room, one with a large screen, and a projector mounted to the ceiling. "I will not be here for this meeting, Mister Cole. So pardon me, the Superintendent will be here shortly." Mori made his apologies and politely bowed out of the room.

"See ya'," Cole said, before picking a seat near the middle of the table, not wanting to offend his host through taking one head or the other.

He waited a few moments, ears straining to hear anyone approaching. But nothing of the sort happened when his other senses tingled. Slowly, Cole turned to look at the side of the table he had designated the 'front' as the projector faced that way, and there, sitting in a chair, was an effeminate man, dressed in a casual green suit that looked the colour of a medical robe than anything else.

"Hello, I'm Superintendant General Crowley, and welcome to Academy City."

"You're not really here." Cole narrowed his eyes, taking in the perfect image before him. "What are you doing?"

"Oh? This?" Crowley looked down at himself, smiling vaguely. "Ah, yes. My apologies. One of the reasons I wanted to meet you in a communications centre. You see, like you, I have many enemies, but unlike you, I cannot simply deal with them as you can." He gestured outwards with his arms, "so instead, I am utilizing a prototype holographic system to be present here without actually being... present." He nodded his head in apology. "I ask your forgiveness if my method of communication is disturbing to you."

Cole knew enough about meetings to let this sort of thing slide. It was just a high tech conference call, really. Nothing to be concerned over. "Nah, just unusual. You look very bright to my eyes though, but I can't comment on what normal people would see."

"Interesting. You observe the electromagnetic halo around my image? That may be something to fix in a future version." The Superintendant mulled it over before returning his focus to Cole. "Now that is out of the way, shall we begin?"

"Sure. Although I am surprised you're coming to me now, rather than, say, tomorrow night."

"Oh, that is simply due to various other commitments. I had more time this evening to talk with you, and so did you; hence we are here." It made sense to Cole, though he couldn't shake the feeling that something deeper was going on here.

"Anyways, I suppose I should first confess our sins." Crowley began, causing Cole to sit up straight and pay more attention. "Yes, Academy City and the First Sons had a working relationship in the past. I have met Kessler, and we did have certain mutually beneficial arrangements."

Cole flexed his fingers, the reasons for Crowley's lack of presence made clear. It was to avoid being _killed_ by the raging conduit. "Explain," he ground out through clenched teeth.

"When this city was founded thirty-some years ago, Kessler and his followers were the first to offer their support for a city of the sciences. They were welcomed with open arms, both for their technological acumen, and for the resources and drive they gave to the city. I can say with all honesty that they were vital for the startup of my City."

"Then give me a reason why I shouldn't tear down your city." Cole demanded, angry. Electricity began to arc about him, a threat display unmistakable to anyone.

"Because as we learned of their methods and goals, we began to reject them. They were formally excised from the city a decade ago." Crowley spread his hands out to show that he was not being hostile. "We now consider the First Sons, what remains of them anyways, to be our enemy. And as they are your enemy as well, we see fit to aid you."

Cole could believe that. Hell, he _wanted_ to believe that, that Crowley and his City were victims of Kessler as much as he and Empire City was. But still, he needed some sort of proof. So he asked for it. "What do you mean?"

"We were suspicious with the accuracy of Kessler's predictions," Corwley admitted carefully, "so we investigated his background. His life before becoming the head of the First Sons was impossible to discover, until we took a more direct approach." He paused for a moment to let Cole process this before launching into his deception. "We discovered his secret, quite by accident."

Cole stiffened. "Which is?"

"And by your reaction, you know it too. Good, that makes things easier. We discovered that Kessler was from the future. His predictions were not that, but rather, remembrances."

Nodding, Cole relaxed just a little bit, the shock of his own knowledge blunted by the realization that they hadn't made the connection between him and Kessler. He was safe. For now. "Yeah. I found that out when I killed him."

"An action for which you have the eternal gratitude of this City, and so many others, Cole." Crowley allowed a gentle smile to come over his face as he spun his web around the Conduit. "I admit to our sins and our follies."

"Look," Cole said, still thinking over this. Kessler was so paranoid about his origins, how did these people find out? "Why don't you start from the top, from the beginning?"

"A good idea," Crowley admitted as he searched his memories. "I will spare you the boring and irrelevant details of how this city was founded. But I will say that Kessler was instrumental in the initial financing. At the time, he said that he foresaw great things of this City, and the founders thought he was speaking hyperbole." He sighed. "Obviously not, in retrospect. Anyways, for the first few years, he and the First Sons were content to let us do what we wanted with our City, allowing us to grow into our own.

"He did ask that he be forwarded any research concerning neurology and certain other... esoteric technologies. The Board approved of these requests as he wasn't interfering with the internal operation of Academy City, and he was still in our good graces for his material and financial assistance.

"Make no mistake, Cole. Academy City would be where it is today with or without Kessler and the First Sons, but his assistance made things... smoother."

"When did it change?" Cole knew something bad had to have happened to have driven the two apart. The Superintendant had admitted as much already.

"About 10 years ago, Kessler came to my City and started making demands of me. He wanted certain technologies that he shouldn't have known about, and he wasn't afraid to threaten me into getting it."

Cole knew just how far Kessler would go to get what he wanted. Painfully so. "What did he want?"

"I think you know, Cole. You held the final product in your hands."

The Ray Sphere.

Cole's shock must have shown on his face, and Crowley nodded. "Yes. We are aware of the charges laid against you. And we dismiss them here as having no validity."

"You..._knew _about the Ray Sphere?" Cole's anger began to grow, and glow as well.

"No! No. Academy City has a different curriculum for the development of people with powers. We knew from theory that a person could jump-start their powers with certain external influences, but that was not what Kessler wanted."

"What, then?"

"At the time," Crowley's image bowed its head, "we were looking into technology that would allow an Esper to learn from, or outright copy the powers of another Esper. The theory at the time was that we could use this method to take a higher ranked Esper and have them 'teach' lower ranked ones how to improve themselves directly. That was what Kessler wanted, and after he took it, much to our shame, he implemented the technology into the Ray Sphere. We were honestly surprised at the end result that activated you, Cole. You see, our research indicated that the device would have to be one-on-one, a 'transfer device' if you will. That the First Sons were able to miniaturize it to such a degree, and turn it into a field generator – at the expense of killing everyone incompatible with the Ray Field, it is something we were horrified to learn."

Cole found a bit of sympathy in his heart for someone whom Kessler had taken advantage of. "This transfer device, you get it to work?"

"No, sadly. There was a faction of scientists in the City that agreed with Kessler's plans, it seems. They took the prototype with them and destroyed all the data and research behind them. It is this faction that I did want to talk to you about as well, as part of our agreement."

"Out with it then," the Conduit demanded of the Superintendent.

"They called themselves the _Kihare_, a working title for those with less morals than responsibility. Some of them betrayed Academy City, though others did not. They went to New Marais, under the protection of Joseph Bertrand to continue their Research."

"Bertrand? New Marais? I was there, four years ago!"

"Really? I didn't know that. Perhaps I can use that information to help you with your criminal troubles?" Crowley offered. "It may not be much, but one of the issues your government is having is trying to connect you to Kessler. That you were in New Marais at that time could be a factor in your favour, or against. In the interests of spiting the First Sons, especially those that remain in that city working for Mister Bertrand, I would like to work toward the former."

"You can prove there are First Sons in New Marais?" Cole latched onto the fact that the organization had survived Kessler's death. "But Bertrand? He's... I don't know, I mean, I don't know much about him."

"He's a very rich man, with a lot of connections in the American South. He supported the First Sons with finances, resources, and facilities, and when Kessler tricked you, Betrand was left in charge of the largest portion of their operations outside Empire City. He has been consolidating them under his power in New Marais."

Cole wanted to yell in anger, but he kept that in check. This is what he was offered, wasn't it? That Academy City would sell out the First Sons, and here and now, he had revealed to him where their next stronghold was. "Any other places I should no about?"

"No. For all their power, the First Sons were never a populous organization. Very vertical. You took out, I would estimate, 95% of them in Empire City. Those that remained in New Marais were more... support staff than anything else."

"Oh." Cole knew what he had to do when he got back to America. "Anything else?"

"Well, for starters, as I mentioned earlier, the faction that had some members support Kessler and joined the First Sons were called the Kihare. If you should happen to meet any of them here in Academy City, well, I suspect there would be a shame if they happened to step on a live wire, or some other unfortunate accident."

Flabbergasted, Cole looked at the hologram. "Did you seriously just say that?"

"Of course. You are a known person to them, and those that try to interfere with you deserve what you decide, no more. No less. Those that do not seek to interfere with you, well, you will not encounter them."

"I understand."

"Thank you, Cole. Although, if you are satisfied with my answers, I do have one more thing to quickly discuss with you regarding your itinerary tomorrow."

"What's that?"

"You are scheduled to work with Misaka Mikoto, correct? I happen to be a friend of her father, and he has asked me to keep an eye on her during her stay in our schools." Crowley smiled honestly, belying the lies he just spoke. "I just wished to warn you that she has quite a bit of pride in her powers, and a temper to match. Please be patient with her, even though you only have a day to interact."

"Yeah, about that, what the hell am I supposed to be doing with her? Your man, Mori, contracted me to do a couple deliveries, but after checking out your city, those won't take more than a couple hours. The rest of it... well... I don't really have much of a plan."

"That is simple. As you may have already surmised, if it was simply experience with work that she was to be given, there are a great many ways to do that in Academy City, without bringing you in. What you do share, however, what we really want..."

Cole interrupted. "Whoa there! I don't know what you are thinking, but most of my powers? They're meant to fight people! You're not exactly embroiled in a war here."

Crowley took measure of Cole's honest ignorance of the deterioration of the English Government, and the alliance Russia was building. And he decided to keep it that way. "Cole, you need not teach her how to fight. But as I said, she has something of a temper. Show her the basics of your self-control, or even a few of your less combative powers, help her break herself out of the rut her current development is going in. Please."

Considering this, Cole eventually nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. If I remember correctly, you are to meet her outside her school at about 9AM?"

"Yep. I even went past the place earlier. Pretty swank." Cole shook his head at the sheer... implausibility of the campus he had casually strolled past. "Looked like a place for kids with huge bank accounts."

Laughing, Crowley corrected Cole. "No, their parents have larger bank accounts. The quality of the education is the same across all our schools, it's just that some parents believe that a prettier building means something."

"So you're bilking them out of their money?" Cole retorted instantly.

"Of course not. Someone has to pay for all the flower gardens, and it serves as bragging rights. For the parents, and children when they grow up."

Cole was beginning to get a good idea of what he was being asked to do. "I think I got something then."

"Good. Thank you Cole, for your time. I hope you find your stay in our city an enjoyable vacation, and I hope to hear good things out of New Marais in the coming weeks."

Mori escorted Cole back to the roof, and Cole looked around at the growing night. This meeting had gone on longer than he had anticipated, and he was looking forward to a good nights rest for the long day tomorrow. Teaching an Electro-Master, huh? He wasn't certain of himself as someone who could do something like that. Hell, he barely had a month of real experience under his belt himself.

Launching himself into the air, he glided out over the street, aiming for the building across the way. It was much taller than the one he had the meeting in, and from there, he could propel himself further.

Climbing up the side wasn't that hard, not only through his well-developed climbing skills, but there was enough metal in the frame of the building that he could augment his grip magnetically to keep him in place. How he did this with mere chalk and gumption was beyond him. If nothing else, his powers were worth it for this alone.

Reaching the top a couple minutes later, Cole flipped over the edge of the building and came face to face with a man. Staring at the read hair, and cigarette, Cole cursed himself for forgetting to check over the ledge in case he needed to mantle to one side or the other first. "Sorry, didn't see you there."

"No problem," The man replied in a slightly British-accented English, tapping the ash from the smoke over the edge of the building. "You sound American. What are you doing climbing a building?"

"Cole MacGrath," Cole introduced himself. "And it's what I do for fun, and sometimes for my job."

"Stiyl Magnus," the other man said, offering a hand for Cole to shake. "I've seen a lot of things in this city, but a guy who climbs buildings for fun is pretty new."

"Tell me about it," Cole relaxed as he took in the young man before him. He was dressed in a black robe that faded his outline against the night sky, though the mysterious effect was completely ruined by the set of rings on all his fingers, the piercings in his ears, and the tattoo under one eye. It was enough that Cole decided to keep his unimpressed opinion to himself. "You're British? You here for Work Experience Day too?"

"What now?" Stiyl asked, confused, before realizing what was being said. "No, Well, yes, I'm from London actually. I represent a group that has... interests in Academy City. That's my job."

"Ah. Lucky. Empire City for me." Cole stretched out a bit. "Nice night," he commented, switching away from conversation about work. "Though I'm used to seeing more stars."

"That is a problem with Academy City," the red haired magician agreed. "Even at night, the lights never go out. They see so little of the night. Though being from Empire City, you would have the same problem."

"Not so much over the past month. The city went dark most nights to conserve power."

"Very environmentally friendly of you."

Cole began to suspect that this British national in Japan wasn't aware of what had happened in Empire City and resolved to keep it that way. "You come up here often?"

"Yes. What about you? Or do you just climb random buildings when the fancy strikes you?"

Laughing, Cole took a moment to compose his reply. "I climb buildings, period. It helps me keep in shape."

The two stood in silence then, enjoying the view of the city. Eventually, it was Cole who broke the impasse. "Well, I have places to go. Long day tomorrow. Nice meeting you, Mister Magnus."

"You too, Mister MacGrath. It was nice to talk English to someone who isn't involved with my business."

Cole took a running leap off the building before lighting off his thrusters, leaving behind a Stiyl who would forget about the encounter with the American Esper before the week was out.


	4. Day Three

**Day 2**

Cole awoke to the predawn darkness, that faint echo of light from distant buildings that permeated civilization. Listening to the sounds of a city that never truly slept, always awake and always in motion, he felt almost at home, like he could forget that the past month had ever happened. Empire City used to be like that.

But the differences between Academy and Empire were huge.

Turning over, he realized he would never get back to sleep. Throwing off the covers, he stretched before climbing off the mattress. The overhead light triggered at the pull of the draw string, giving him what he needed to begin his morning routine.

Finding his way to the kitchen, hidden behind discrete doors, he was momentarily brought up short by the differences in design of the appliances in the room. But no matter where you go, a kettle is a kettle, a stove is a stove and a fridge is a fridge. A pot of coffee was only a minute of rummaging around away from starting.

Having the feeling that Maika would take offence to his self-help skills, if only because she couldn't use it to pad her score, he made sure to be very quiet and to clean up after himself. Making sure that he had left the kitchen as he found it, short one pot of coffee, he tried to decide what to do until the day broke properly.

Drink in hand, he found the back door and checked it out, curious as to what constituted a 'old-fashioned' back yard in Japan. He was surprised. A small bamboo wall encircled the place lawn, where a couple trees hung near the back, showing signs of the on-coming winter. A small pool was off to one side, while a rock garden was tastefully arranged, or so he supposed. He'd never seen one like that before, and given the circumstances, he had to assume they were trying to look pretty.

A set of chairs angled toward each other on the grass, close enough to allow people sitting in them to converse casually. He took one, enjoying the firm wooden supports under his back, and sipped at the warm drink in his hands. As he sat there, he relaxed a bit. Then a bit more. Then something clicked.

He realized what separated Academy and Empire Cities. Academy City, awake and ready to start the day, was a city _at peace_ with itself. There was no gunfire, no reports or requests over his radio about the police needing help somewhere, no knowing that he was being manipulated into doing someone else's dirty work. No needing to get up and run around putting down rouge Conduits.

He could... _relax_.

It was almost intoxicating, knowing that he didn't have to worry. Just to wait and be free.

But this vacation couldn't last. New Marais waited for him, with Josephy Bertand and the possibility of another Ray Sphere. And the Beast was somewhere in the future, waiting for him. He had to be the one to stop it, the only one who could. Of this, Kessler was certain.

Groaning at the build up of bad mojo, he finished off his drink and looked to the sky. The last of the bright stars had faded in the twilight and city-lights, leaving nothing behind but the un-shattered moon. He decided to do some warm-ups before leaving and hitting up the school where this Misaka attended for the day.

No rest for the wicked, that was for sure.

Waking with a groan, Misaka slammed a hand on the ringing alarm. Kuroko had given her a purely mechanical one for important days and appointments, a clock she couldn't will into submission. It was her day for 'Work Experience' in the real world, and she still didn't know what she was supposed to do.

The only thing she knew for certain was that she would be picked up at the front gate by her mentor today at the designated time. That was it.

While it annoyed her to no end, it had driven her roommate completely bonkers. Kuroko harassed every resource she could bring to bear to find out what was going on, and got stonewalled worse than anything she had ever encountered previously.

And yet there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. She would get dressed, head to class for roll call, then meet her mysterious employer for the day.

Cole watched with slight impatience as the crowds in from the stupidly high-class school thinned out. Standing across the street, he had a good view of all the limos and other vehicles of importance picked up or dropped off students, while others walked away toward their jobs in singles or groups.

Very self-consciously, he tugged on his new shirt to straighten it out, trying to at least appear like he wasn't a vagrant when surrounded by people with shoes that cost more than he usually made in a month. That was the kind of money being thrown around.

The picture of the girl he was supposed to teach was in his hand, and while he tried to spot her in the crowd, it was hard to tell one Asian apart from another at this range. It was easy to pick out the aberrations, such as those who dyed their hair a different colour. But all the blacks and browns turned individuals into an indistinct blob of chattering teenagers.

He wondered if this Misaka girl also had a picture of him. Probably one supplied by Academy City.

The numbers started to thin out, and he focused more on those who were waiting still. Checking against the photo as best he could, he finally had to admit that he couldn't tell one brown-haired girl from another from across the street.

This, he grumbled, was why he liked delivering to addresses, not to people. Less chance of a screw up due to mistaken identity. He briefly considered trying to hail her by her full name to garb her attention, but realized that was a dumb idea. And climbing up the buildings to glide over the traffic also seemed slightly inappropriate. Letting her try to find him was right out. He was suppose to be the teacher in this, so it was his responsibility to reach out, right?

Impatience, in this case, was a virtue. Cole checked traffic, and then crossed over to the main gates of the school while ignoring the looks he got with a stern impassiveness that he had long ago cultivated to deal with people in cars or on the sidewalk to deal with people who didn't like him getting in his way.

That expression, combined with him being an obvious foreigner who towered above everyone else gave him a wide circle of privacy to work with. Rolling his shoulders only enhanced the distance he was given, while the translator in his ear couldn't catch enough of the whispers from the children around him. But he knew the looks. Nothing fun.

An idea occurred to him. He was supposed to meet up with an Electrical Conduit like himself, right? Well, why didn't he just throw down a pulse or two, ans see what showed up? Sure, he usually used it to find power sources, or something like that, so why wouldn't it work on someone who was like him?

Well, it didn't locate Kessler, but then again, he wasn't surprised that man knew how to avoid the EMP.

He released a little bit of his energy, pushing out in all directions. The world changed colours for a moment as his other senses overrode his eyes, time seeming to slow as his neurons fired faster to keep up with the influx of information. All the vehicles behind him shone silver, the massive bundle of electrical cable ten meters down flowed like a river into a thousand million tributaries that spun out across the school in front.

And there was a star, burning brighter than everything else.

Misaka didn't like waiting, unless it was someone she trusted to show up even past the designated time. Like her friends. Adding into the fact that despite the best efforts of herself, Kuroko and others, she was still in the dark about what was going on today, she was seriously tempted to just ditch the whole thing and go crash the Judgement office, just to avoid the boredom.

She had been waiting for minutes. And she had expected that whoever was supposed to meet her would recognize the second most public of the Level Fives.

(It galled her to recognize the Seventh as more popular than her, but he did spend more time out and about.)

So either they weren't here yet, or they were here and were choosing to ignore her. Which option was worse, she couldn't decide.

Then her senses were hit by a flood of radiation, the familiar aggravation of the days past returning to the forefront of her mind. It was _close_, judging by the intensity. Angry that she would let something like that get in such proximity to herself, she spun around with sparks in her hair as she got ready to confront the...

Oh.

The tall foreigner was built like a monk, with the shaved head and the general body build. But where they wore robes, he wore a t-shirt, pants and runners, along with a bag over his back. "Are you Misaka Mikoto?" he asked carefully in English, careful to pronounce her name correctly. To the first glance, he had the bearing of a Skill Out, but a deeper look showed that he had more inside him, like a living lighting bolt.

"Yes, I am!" She stood tall and proud, even though she only came up to his chest. The Railgun refused to bend an inch before this man who was sent to meet her. "Are you here to escort me to my job today?" She made her reply in English as the man spoke in it first, and therefore may not know enough Japanese to respond properly.

He held out his hand to greet her in the western style, and she responded in kind, not bothering to shock him if her senses were correct. It would be rude, and he might not even be aware of the level of electricity she normally used to discourage people from coming close. "I'm Cole MacGrath, your teacher for the day." He looked her up and down with a professional eye before returning to look at her directly. "Do you have something else to wear? We're going to be doing a lot of exercise, and skirts aren't the best option, you know?"

Stunned, Misaka tried to understand what had just happened. This foreigner was to be her Job Experience Teacher? What the hell kind of cruel, sick and perverted joke was this? Not even Kuroko would stoop so low! But he was an Electro-Master, that much was obvious. So perhaps he wasn't here for an actual 'job', but more for Skills training?

But the comment about her uniform kept clamouring for more attention, so she delivered the rote response. "All students of the Tokiwadai Middle School are required to wear their uniform at all times out in public in order to maintain the integrity of the School and their persons."

Cole raised an eyebrow. The girl in front of him was wearing the same damn uniform as all the other girls, and still managed to look like something more. Maybe it was the energy running through her. Now that he could see her and knew what to look for, he could tell that she was just a rolling ball of power, ready to be let loose. "Uniform, right? I remember something about gym clothes you guys can wear. Can you change into that?"

"There has to be some mistake," Misaka muttered under her breath, finally breaking eye contact to lance back at the school.

"Not really," Cole replied in English, having guessed what she said through the intermittent translation provided in his ear. "You want to talk to someone in charge? We got time."

"Director Unabara?" It didn't escape her notice that he spoke English, while understanding Japanese. Maybe his accent was horrible, and this was his way to save face? "That would be for the best. Follow me."

Around them, the circle of people who knew exactly what happened when someone pissed off the third most powerful person in Academy City relaxed at the diffusion of tensions.

Cole let the girl take the lead in the conversation and then in the jog to the school. He had trained new people before in the courier business, and while he wasn't the best teacher in the company, he still knew enough to let the annoyance in the girl exert itself _now_, rather than _later_ when it could become a real issue.

Following, he looked around at the grounds of the School. Everything around here just screamed 'money!'. And that was something he knew how to handle. A plan forming in his mind, he smiled, knowing that he would be able to show this kid a thing or two about the real world.

Of course, petty one-upmanship with a teenage girl wasn't in the cards. He needed something a bit more direct to get her to pay attention to him. And given the societal circles this place implied, teaching her basic work ethics wasn't much of an option either. That left power.

Misaka led them into the main building of the school, where she switched shoes, and was grateful that the foreigner had the respect to use the offered visitor's slippers instead of his runners. Mindful of one of the teachers watching curiously, she announced that she was showing him to the Director's office which seemed to placate the teacher.

At a more sedate pace, she made her way up one floor and to the left where she found the hallway to the office empty. She had been there many times, mostly due to her actions that were right, but still seen as inappropriate. This time however... she smiled, for the authority was on her side.

Cole suspected that all her effort to get out of this would be for nought. Not if Superintendent Crowley had taken such an interest in her education this day that he got Cole to do two jobs on one trip. But he still had to go through the motions. The first lesson! That you wind up with crap jobs, and you just got to put up with them, that sometime fighting is the worst thing you can do.

He had to deal with such things before, but put them aside as they entered the office, a breath of fresh familiarity from calmer days when the worst he had to deal with was people trying to gyp him out of due payment.

Before he became a Conduit.

Straightening his shoulders, Cole walked in with all the professionalism and courtesy he could project. He tilted his head to one side as the translator caught up to Misaka asking to see the director due to some sort of mistake, gesturing at Cole's presence in the process.

The secretary, a medium build and brown haired woman in a blue suit looked up at Cole, the height difference extreme. "Hello," he said to introduce himself. "I am Cole MacGrath, Miss Mikoto's work instructor for the day. She desires confirmation." He carefully pronounced his words in case the woman didn't understand English that easy. He hoped that wouldn't be a problem, but given the high-class school he was in, it only made sense that she would know some basics of the language. He bowed slightly as he understood that to be the Japanese equivalent of a handshake.

The glare Misaka fired at him would have fried any non-Conduit. But it didn't bother him one bit, as he had been under worse, and his position was secure.

"One moment," the secretary replied in a fairly thick accent before speaking into an intercom, announcing the presence of the two. The tinny voice came back, and Cole twitched a grin at the tone of voice, asking that they be sent in.

After opening the door them, Cole thanked the secretary as he passed before turning his attention to the room they were in. It was like any of dozens of high-end offices he had been in before, paintings on the wall, bookshelves, picture of some important person that was far larger than life, it all blended together into the same monotonous tone of "I've got more money than you to flaunt, and we both know it".

The Director was an older man, balding badly, and a bit overweight. He rose to greet Cole, offering his hand to shake instead of relying on Cole's bowing skills. "Now, what's the problem?" he asked in English, looking at Cole while ignoring the girl.

"This is obviously a mistake!" Misaka complained, only to be silenced by a harsh glare from the Director. Cole waited patiently and calmly for attention to be turned back to him before giving his explanation.

"Hello, sir. My name is Cole MacGrath. I am a Courier from Empire City in the United States. I was asked to come to Academy City for a couple days for several reasons, including participating in your Work Experience Day as a Mentor to the young Misaka Mikoto here. As arranged, I met her at the gates to your school earlier, and she took exception to this. She seems to have concerns over the nature of the job assigned to her today, as well as the concerns I had over her clothing." Cole maintained the polite demeanour of a man who had seen all this before, and would again in order to reinforce his personal standing.

"Ah. And what issue with the school uniform do you have, Mister McGrath?" The Director smiled, sharing with Cole the personal joy that someone was finally giving Misaka no slack at all. Cole's opinion that she might be a trouble maker raised a notch in response.

"It's _MacGrath_ actually, not McGrath. A small difference, but very important." Cole waved off the slight mispronunciation of his name as a (truthfully) common occurrence. "And my concern is the skirt. The job of a courier involves a lot of travelling, and is very physically demanding." He straightened himself out to show off his excellent frame, noting that he was the tallest person in the room. "Because of these concerns, especially given that we will be travelling on foot for most of the day, I objected to her current attire, and asked her if there was a suitable replacement options, such as pants."

Cole was completely proud of himself for the line he fed the Director, especially as Misaka seemed aghast at the presentation. Just enough absolute truth to be unassailable. He didn't know if it was for the words themselves, of the delivery, but he didn't care to find out either.

Unabara nodded in thanks to Cole, then turned to Misaka to ask her for her side of the story. To Cole's minor happiness, she seemed flustered as she tried to counter his calm presentation and logic with her own emotive pleas about her standing and how she wasn't prepared for this, and the reputation of the school when it was seen that she was doing such a menial job. It was, to Cole's ear, a very teen-aged way of thinking, and while he considered its validity from her point of view, he had to take a principled stand in favour of taking ones job seriously, not matter how much you hated it and what it did to you.

"Ah, I see." The Director nodded in understanding, adding in a "Well said," to placate the girl before turning to Cole. "I apologize mister McGrath. This unseemly delay will be rectified immediately. This school does have a strict Uniform policy, and she is correct in maintaining that she is required to wear it." He smiled as Cole tried to understand the lawyer-speak coming from him, before turning the rest of the conversation over. "What she has forgotten, apparently, is that the school does have sweat pants and windbreakers that are considered to be part of the physical activity uniform. I presume, Mister McGrath, that your job will require much in the way of physical exertion?"

"Plenty." Cole responded, a small smile forcing its way onto his face. "We will be doing a lot of foot work today." He raised his hand a couple feet apart, and sent a small charge of lighting through them to show off his powers. "And I will be teaching her between the jobs I have lined up today."

"Thank you." The Director turned to the shocked Misaka to address her in Japanese. "Misaka-chan, please report to the Dispensary for the appropriate garments. When you are properly attired, please return here. I will entertain your instructor until then. Do not be tardy."

Having lost the argument, and lost it hard, the teenager could only bow and leave the room in as close to a huff as she dared.

The two men waited in silence for a minute for the outer door to close before Cole released a deep breath he didn't know he was holding. "Problem student?" He hazarded a guess to break open the ice so that they could have a civil discussion like two adults.

"You could say that. Would you care for some water? And please, have a seat. No need to stand on my account now." Unabara asked far more jovially as he went to a pour himself something stronger.

"Thanks," Cole replied, taking of his sac so he didn't have to sit on it, taking a spot on a couch that rested against the wall. "Sorry to have to put you through that."

"I do not view it as a problem. Mikoto-chan is a high-profile student as is our school, and as such, has been given a degree of leniency in her actions that must sometimes be curbed." The Director set down two glasses on the table, taking the seat across from Cole. "Although I am concerned that you may not be fully aware of what you're getting into."

Cole responded with his now usual arcing of electricity between his hands.

"Be careful with that, Mister MacGrath. She is a very proud student, and the thought that someone is stronger than her in her field is not something she would like."

"I'm twice her age," Cole replied. "I thought you Japanese ... sorry, the Japanese culture put respect on their elders."

"In a way, we do. But we are also a very enclosed society. Our elders are still part of our culture, not, in your case, a foreigner. If you were one of us, she wouldn't have as much issue, I think."

"You mean there's no Conduit in Japan that can teach her?"

"I was wondering why a man from America was chosen to teach our student." Unabara took a sip of his decidedly less clear drink. "It seems like we needed to look for someone from outside the City who could match her. Was it a hassle?"

Cole thought over the tests yesterday, and the conversation last night. Then he decided to lie. "No, not really. Superintendent Crowley apparently took an interest in me, and expedited the process, so it's something that I am not going to turn my back on."

The head of the school nodded in understanding, his own information about the head of the Board of Directors meshing nicely with what Cole told him. "So, you mentioned you were from Empire City. We don't get much news out of the States these days. How is your home?"

"We had a terrorist attack about a month and a half ago. A lot of buildings were damaged, and the government botched the cleanup. I stepped up to help, and that seemed to raise my profile enough to get this job." Cole summed up the events of the preceding weeks as closely as he could, while avoiding the real events. He at first assumed that the Director was just being polite, but the look on his face told the Conduit that he had been taken at face value, and that the man really had no clue about what had happened when the Ray Sphere went off, all the people dead, and the quarantine of the city.

"My sympathies. I suppose one of the nice things about Academy City is the relative closeness of our leadership. Anything that affects the City affects them, and as such, there is a very quick and proper response to such incidents. That is not to say that we are without problems of our own, just that they affect everyone, and so everyone can help in fixing them."

Cole didn't believe it, that anyone could live in a world like that. He attributed it to the man talking up his City as was his job. But instead of voicing his opinion, he raised his glass in a toast to the lies they told each other to keep things running smoothly. Glasses clinked and drinks were had.

Glancing at the door, Cole did mutter his next thought out loud. "I hope she doesn't take too much longer. We've got work to do."

Misaka tromped down the stairs and to the left, following the instructions of the Director. Her feet carried her automatically, as her head was full of dark and dangerous thoughts. The damned foreigner had not only talked the Director into agreeing with him, but somehow, she had come off looking _worse_ for it!

"Oh, my!" The false concern brought both feet and mind to a halt as the Railgun processed the new presence beside her. "What could possibly have angered you so?"

Misaka resisted the urge to shock the new girl, knowing that while it would be cathartic, it would do nothing for her in the long run. "What do you want, Mental Out?" She was just annoyed enough to use Shokukou Misaki's title, rather than her name. "And why doesn't it surprise me that you managed to get out of Work Experience?"

The Queen of Tokiwadi Middle School only smiled, enhancing her starry-eyed expression. "Why, my dear Railgun, what could possibly make you think that?" The returned epithet did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, only because you're actually _here_." Misaka snarked back as she began to walk again, eager to put this latest distraction behind her in a literal and figurative sense.

"Well," Misaki said as she hurried to catch up to the far more athletic Misaka, "I may have heard that your duties today are not all you wanted them to be. Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

For a moment, Misaka seriously considered the offer. But then three factors proved that such a thing would be futile. First was that she would owe the Queen a favour. Which was unacceptable. Second was that the foreigner was an Electro-master, and the odds of Mental Out being able to affect him were probably around the odds of Misaka herself being affected. Thirdly, _she would owe Shokukou a favour_, and that would kill any possible collaboration between them. "No," she explained, "that won't be necessary."

Disappointed, the other girl stopped trying to keep pace with Misaka. "Very well. But you have my number in case you change your mind!" She waited for the Railgun to turn a corner, then turned back the way she had come, eager to make a new friend.

Cole had a second glass of water as he and the Director exchanged pleasantries. Weather was an interesting subject, as Cole and Unabara actually found some common interest there. Cole for his worries about the rain, and Unabara as he was an amateur meteorologist in some of his spare time. It was a polite way to pass the time as they were both too professional to make serious enquiries into the others job.

Finally, the secretary buzzed the intercom, reporting that Misaka Mikoto had returned, and Cole stood to take his leave. "Thank you for your time, Director. As I understand it, I can return her here at the end of the school day?"

"Of course, you are welcome MacGrath-dono. And that would be welcome, though not required. As long as she has learned from her experiences, she can return directly to her dormitory this evening." He gave unsubtle permission for Cole to take his time with their student, knowing that he might need it. He too rose, and bowed to Cole, who bowed awkwardly in return. "Have a good day."

"Thanks." Cole escorted himself out of the office, and took the moment to appraise Misaka's new attire. A brown hoodie fell loosely over her shoulders, the emblem of the school proud on her left breast pocket. Black sweatpants emerged from under the deep hem of the zipped-up jacket, and ran down to her runner clad feet. "That's... acceptable." Cole conceded despite private concerns that she would get too hot in that outfit today. Best to stop fighting and get things moving. "Alright. We've got four stops today. Two pickups and two deliveries. We'll do one before lunch, take a break for some food and a little side training, then the other in the afternoon. Then we'll see what still needs doing." He dictated their itinerary with practised ease, having mentally gone over it a great many times. "So follow me."

Cole took the lead on the way back, the two electric persons walked at a normal pace to the front entrance. Rejecting the desire to show off by free-running through the lobby, Cole switched to his outside shoes, watching the girl carefully as she sullenly seemed to have resigned herself to a bad day. "Look," he said, trying to show her that all was not lost. "We're not going to be doing anything seriously hard today. Yes, the job can be a chore, but it can be fun. You get to meet a lot of people, set your own hours. You can be free." He stood.

A sharp spike stabbed itself into his brain, a shock that caused him to almost falter. On reflex, the instincts that came from being under attack for far too log, he pulsed out a wave of power, hard. Misaka recoiled from it, shocked at the transformation of Cole from a dirty Skill-Out courier into a man who fought with experience. She could feel him build power, tensing at the possibility of a fight.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shokukou start to sneak away, putting her remote back into her purse.

Realizing what happened, for a moment, Misaka was scared for the safety of her schoolmate. In her mind's eye, she knew the reaction of her own powers when the Queen tried to affect her, and by Cole's reaction, he had taken it poorly. "Heh-heh!" She said aloud, putting her arms behind her head. "I didn't think you'd react like that!" Let her take the coming fury, and maybe the stupid blond would actually _owe_ her.

"Wasn't you." Cole announced as he failed to find the source of the shock to his system. "... the hell was that?"

Hiding her dismay, Misaka switched tracks. "Some of the girls like to play tricks on me, and they'll use their powers to direct things at me. Maybe you got caught in one? Come on, let's go! The sooner we start, the sooner we finish."

Reading the desire of the girl to move on, her uncomfortable skittishness obvious, Cole forced himself to relax. This wasn't Empire City. Petty teenaged pranks happen. He didn't have to expect a full scale war every time something crossed his nerves "Fine. But if I find out who, well, I'll have to discipline them." He said his threat loud enough that anyone watching would hear, but left the specifics unsaid to cover his own butt. "You ready to go?"

She nodded, a short and curt agreement, pleased and relieved that there wouldn't be a battle on school grounds. Even if Shokukou wasn't a fighting Level 5, there were plenty of people she controlled who could do her fighting for her.

And in the back of her mind, something told her that the Queen and her court would lose against the foreigner.

Crossing back to the front of the school grounds, Cole put the incident behind him and looked over his plans. He needed something to start of that was interesting to the girl to keep her attention, if only out of pity for the fact that he was probably seen as some evil interloper by this point. An olive branch, if you will.

Stopping at the gates, he nodded appreciatively that Misaka was right behind him, not showing any exertion from the pace he had set. "Alright, let's get one thing out of the way," he tried to regulate his gravely voice to be more 'kind', but wasn't sure how it came across. "Call me Cole. We've only got the one day to work together, so at least let's skip some formalities. You don't need to call me 'Sir', or Mister MacGrath, or anything like that. You can call me Cole." There, a little bit of familiarity should help ease up both of them.

"Misaka," the girl finally said. "If we're going to do this, you can use 'Misaka'." She seemed shy at the admission, but Cole couldn't be sure. It seemed awkward, so he moved on to the first physical lesson he had planned. "All the power in the world means nothing if you don't have the strong body or strong mind to handle them." Memories of Alden and Sasha drove this lesson, crippled as they were by age and insanity to various degrees. "So first a bit of exercise."

Interestingly, Misaka didn't falter at the statement. She drew herself up to show that she could handle anything he could throw at her. It was a good attitude to have, and he liked it. "So, ever heard of free running?"

"You mean Parkour?" Miska replied, using the French word with nary an inappropriate accent. "Yea, I have. Some idiots got themselves hurt a while back with it."

Cole huffed. "Sounds like amateurs to me. Let me guess. They fell off a building after missing a jump? Did something in the public which got them caught making an embarrassment of themselves and others?"

"Don't know, don't care." Misaka pulled at her uniform, still unsure of herself, and how she came to be in this position. It was certainly roomy and movable, but she felt like she looked like a mook in one of those stupid video games, so indistinguishable from each other that the player didn't feel bad about beating them up.

"Well, we won't be. No, _You_ won't be doing anything so foolish." Cole had no intention of letting an untrained _anyone_ in their early teens do anything like that, let along in a foreign city, where they could be hurt. "I'll be showing you the basics, having you practise them, while I show off more advanced stuff."

Misaka didn't respond, instead finding the large pockets in the front of her jacket to be nice enough to stick her hands in. If she leaned forward a bit, who cares if she looked like a shifty Skill-Out? No one would know it was her. And Kuroko was elsewhere, so that wasn't an issue. Oh crap! She just remembered her promise to her roommate.

Crap. She promised to check in, lest her stalker start trying to find her. "Um... Cole?"

"Yes?"

She produced her cell. "I promised I'd call my parents when I started work. Would you mind?"

Cole looked at his watch. He had promised that they had time, so a quick call shouldn't hurt. "You have a minute. Make it quick."

Misaka was already dialling, hoping Kuroko would see it was her on the caller-ID and pick up. She did, before the first ring had completed. "Onee-sama? Are you hurt? Do you need me to rescue you?"

"Hello!" The Railgun didn't know how much the foreigner could hear, so she had to shut down Kuroko's talking as fast as she could. "I'm going to be starting my work experience now, Mother. There's no need to be worried about me, and please tell Kuroko I'll try to call her when we break for lunch. Bye!" She hung up, making sure her phone was set to silent-mode, so that any calls back from her room-mate wouldn't attract attention.

Cole simply had a raised eyebrow, his translator not really catching the hushed communication, though he thought he recognized the word for 'Mother' in there somewhere. Seeing the phone put away, the silly frog strap attached to it, he asked "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and he started to run. After a split seconds hesitation, she followed hot on his heels.

He led them down the road to the right, heading for the intersection that allowed a road to go away from the school grounds. Cole didn't push himself and Misaka easily kept the pace. While she still resented, ever so slightly, the series of events that brought them to this point, she did relish the idea of possibly learning something new. And if she didn't, she would feel better about her position as the most powerful Electro-Master.

Together they wound their way through streets further toward the distant river until Cole made a left into an alley that Misaka was certain was a dead end. It wasn't, as she soon found out, as it was only barred by a chain-link fence, and not a proper wall. The fence was a decent ten feet high, in an inch and it would be enough to deter most people from passing by. She wasn't 'most people'.

Stopping, Cole turned to his charge, and indicated the fence. "How would you get over this?" His body language, to Misaka's eyes, was a fight between crossing his arms in front, and crossing them behind like a teacher.

She smirked. "Easy!" Taking a couple steps back and focusing on her power, she felt the metal in the walls around her, as well as in the fence. Once she was satisfied, she lifter propelled herself up and over the fence, magnetically slowing herself down on the other side. Landing with a flourish, she spun to see his reaction.

He was disappointed. And maybe something else? Curiosity? Worry? She couldn't tell. "Do it again," he commanded. "This time without powers."

"Why? I got over!"

"Not the point. Come back over, and without any powers." His challenge was flat and final, that she had already failed once and was giving her a second chance to succeed. In a way, it reminded her very uncomfortably of her first teachers, back when she was Level 1 and 2. The ones who pushed her harder because they knew she wasn't trying, even though she was passing their tests.

Besides, it was just a chain-link fence. Not even that tall. It was easy enough to scale the fence, her hands and feet fitting neatly into the gaps between the wires. Hauling herself over the top, she began to descend, looking down long enough to see Cole steadying the fence with one hand while watching her. She didn't need the help, and came down much faster, thanks to gravity. "There. Done. You want me to do it blindfolded now?"

He shook his head, ignoring the tone of voice. "Two questions. Why did you use your powers the first time?"

She didn't have an immediate answer. Misaka thought it would be obvious, and after a moment's hesitation answered. "Because I could. It was a good chance to exercise my powers." This seemed to satisfy him, because he moved on.

"When you came back, why did you go straight at the fence?"

That surprised her even more. She turned to look back at the divider in the alley, and saw nothing wrong with that. "I'm not a teleporter. So I had to take it on."

Cole recognized the issue. It was one from when he first came into his powers. And he saw that he would have to stop being nice for a minute and deliver a harsh lesson. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but damn it, he had to.

"Alright, I get it. You're a teenager. You feel like you're on top of the world, and nothing can get in your way. Everyone does. And you're probably still new to being a Conduit, so I'll give that a pass." He had to, being active for less than 6 weeks himself. "But here's something I think no one has ever taught you. You define your powers. You must never let your powers define you." Alden and Sasha came again to memory. "I've met too many people who let what they _could_ do" he sparked some power between his hands in demonstration "tell them what they _should _do." Alden fell into a spiral of vengeance that would never come, while Sasha could never understand why Kesser would not be controlled.

He saw the girl in front of him as seeing everything as problems where her power was the solution, and when that wasn't an option, to drive straight at it. "It's like the saying goes, 'When all you have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail'."

"And you haven't?" Misaka snapped back, angry that he would insult her like that. How dare he make fun of all the years she had spent training to be the person she is today! She looked at the foreigner in the face, and any follow-up retort fell short.

Cole, she knew, was older that her. A lot older. And he wasn't judging her, merely observing. And he was... Espers, she knew, started getting trained when they were children. It was better that way, less chance of something going wrong. That was something drilled into every student in Academy City. He was calling her _young_ because he was old enough to be a member of the first class of Espers trained by Academy City all those years ago, before she was even born.

Experience was its own thing. Not power or skill. He was more experienced than her with their powers, and he was speaking from that perspective. Not something else.

She bowed. "I am sorry!" Her apology, she hoped, would carry some weight. "I spoke improperly!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Cole raised his hands defensively, not sure what buttons he pushed to get that change in attitude. "You don't need to apologize to me! Everyone screws up, even me! Isn't that what this day is about? Learning from our mistakes?"

He was right, Misaka knew. Standing up, she stood straight by the fence. "Then what now?"

"You need to stop thinking of your powers as the first solution to all your problems. I'm not saying to ignore them at all, that would be wrong. What you got to do is to start thinking about things and approaching them from a different angle."

"Like how?" And how did climbing a fence demonstrate that?

"Like this." Cole went from standing to a spring in a single stride. Unlike Misaka, he didn't use his powers, or went straight for the fence. Instead, he hopped onto a garbage bin that lay against the wall, and used that to vault to the top of the fence, where he flipped over and fell the rest of the way to the ground in a single motion taking more more than five seconds.

From opposite sides of the fence, the two looked at each other. "The hardest part of having powers," Cole admitted, "is to stop using them." He put one hand up against the chain, palm facing out. "I've seen too many people fall into the trap of letting their powers dictate their actions – that they failed to see any other options. That's what I'm trying to show you, badly."

He gestured up at the fence. "You came to an obstacle, and you used your powers to get over it. _That's not wrong_, but it's not _right_ either. No matter how powerful you may become, no matter what your powers can allow you to do, please never stop looking for another way to solve your issues. You'll be a better person for it."

That, Cole reflected as the girl seemed to think about what he said, was the worst sappy excuse for a speech he had ever heard. But if there was a chance to steer another Conduit away from the path of going crazy, he had to take it. His own sense of decorum be damned.

For Misaka, the lesson, while honest seeming, went against everything she was. She was The Railgun for crying out loud! Her powers where what made her her!

And yet, some part of her saw he was right. She had seen so many who did exactly what he had said, who had fallen into... He saw the same behaviour in her. No matter how little, he was comparing her to everyone who too pride in their powers, and showed them off. And she couldn't really deny it. Not to herself. But she would deny it to his face. "I'm more than that," Misaka announced.

Off the top of her head, only Saten while under the effects of Level Upper hadn't let her power change her. She simply became _more_ like herself, the powers being part of her, and not the other way around.

"If you say so." Cole obviously didn't believe her, but was willing to let the subject drop. "Come on then. Let's get some work done and get paid." He gestured for Misaka to come over to his side of the fence, and simply to spite him, she climbed up onto the same trash bin he used, then over the top where he was ready to catch her if she fell. Ignoring the offer, she landed and waited for him to make the next move.

"Alright, now for the actual 'job' part of Job Experience." Cole fell back on more familiar ground. "Can you tell me what a courier is and what they do?"

"They take packages from one place to another." Misaka wasn't a total fool, although she did hold her annoyance back as he decided to start with the basics.

"Good. What do you know about the history of the job?" Cole smiled inwardly. Once of his co-workers from a couple years ago was a University student who was working his way through school, and did some research which he passed on to those who listened. He never thought he'd have use for it, but he'd had weirder surprises over the past few weeks.

"Um, they're related to the post office?"

Cole nodded. "True, but I was thinking of something else. The job of courier is extremely old, and until the latter half of the 20th century, was a very respectable career." How the mighty had fallen. "You see, before phones and radio and the Internet, and even telepathy, the only way to communicate with someone was either to talk to them directly or send a message. That's where the courier came in, the messenger. Our job was to allow for people to communicate past the sound of their voice."

Misaka thought he was over stating things, but didn't say so.

"Messengers were so respected, and so vital to the running of nations that they were given special protections. Harming a messenger was considered a major crime in large parts of the world for thousands of years." He remembered watching that silly movie about those Greek guys, and how one of the 'heroes' screwed himself over by killing the messenger from a foreign land. "Often times, Princes would be sent to carry official correspondence, not only so they could travel under those protections, but so they could experience other nations for diplomatic purposes."

He sighed. "But things like the Post Office were the result of governments nationalizing the messenger service, to make sure that the quality and competency of service was equal for all people."

"Yet you have a job," Misaka said. She remembered some tales from myth, and now some things made more sense.

"Yep." Cole agreed as he looked around. "Couriers in the modern age are trusted even more because into our care is given messages and packages that cannot be entrusted to the offices of the public. And before you say, yes, it can be used to transport illegal things. But most of the stuff we carry tends to either be to sensitive or under too much of a time constraint to see through normal channels."

"And I suppose that makes you a Prince," Misaka joked.

Cole shuddered at the implications that would be all to easy to pull off back in Empire City. "Only if that makes you a Princess," he fired back to share in the humour.

It was Misaka's turn to realize what that meant. Especially when Shokouku styled herself a 'Queen'. "I think I'll stay myself."

"Good," Cole changed the subject. "So, I may have said this already, but we've got two jobs lines up today. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. We'll spend the other time working on Powers, and maybe taking a break or two."

Misaka looked up at him. "All day?"

He smiled. "Let me let you in on a little secret. As long as the job is done, you can set your own hours. And this job makes you really good at time management." The promise was clear. Get the hard work out of the way faster, then they can get to the good stuff, or simply end it earlier.

"So, how does that work?" Misaka was now honestly curious as to how he would do his job in Academy City, though she had no illusions that this was a 'real' job. It was probably all arranged for her benefit.

"Easy," Cole said. "We go to a place, pick up a delivery, go to another place, drop it off and get paid."

Misaka glared at him. "Can we please take this seriously?"

"I am!" Cole grinned back, glad for the chance to break some of the ice that was still between them. "I've done this for so long, that I know when to be serious, and when not to be."

"So, what, do we go get a truck now?" Misaka wondered if this foreigner had a proper driver's licence or not, but did admit to herself that being an Electromaster meant driving an electric car was an even more viable choice. Not that she had thought about such things seriously in the past. She was far too young to get a car!

"Nah. We run, we climb. That sort of thing." Cole and Misaka exited the alley and got their bearings.

"Really? Must be pretty close then." Made sense to Misaka as she pulled her collar up to avoid people recognizing her. Though standing close to Cole meant they tended to look at him, not her was an asset.

"Not really. Pickup's a dozen blocks in that direction," Cole pointed down the street, then shifted about 90 degrees to the south, "Drop off a couple clicks that way."

Misaka tried to map that out in her head, but failed. He obviously knew where he was going, but didn't give her any details. "So, what, we're going to run the whole way?"

Cole shook his head. "No. City like this, bicycles are a good option, but I wanted to show off some of powers for you. So I picked a route that lets me do that and make good time."

"What powers?" Misaka was interested in that more than the actual job.

"It'll be a surprise!" Cole announced as he picked up the pace to a slight jog, Misaka following.

As they traveled, Cole talked about the nitty-gritty of being a Courier, the practical aspects of the job that would be boring to teach in a vacuum, such as how to handle sealed works, receipts, payment and stupid people.

"Payment?" Misaka asked as they turned a corner. "You deal in cash?"

"A lot of the time, yes. It's simpler that way." Cole responded casually. She was an attentive student, even though he could tell she was only paying attention for the power lessons later. "Never take a cheque though. Getting burned on a bouncing cheque is bad for business."

"Bouncing?" Misaka didn't know the reference.

"Sorry, ah, promised money that never comes." The Railgun nodded in understanding. Very few people tried to gyp her out of their promises to her, and those that tried either underestimated her, or didn't know in the first place who they were dealing with. She could see how that would be a problem.

Coming up on their first pickup, Cole slowed down and swung his bag around to grab a couple bottles of water from inside it. Keeping one, he passed the other to Misaka. He didn't need to tell her the importance of keeping hydrated.

"So, how do we do this?" Misaka asked as she cracked open the bottle and rationed her drink carefully to avoid choking. This wasn't like dropping a letter off in the mail box for the automated systems to take care of. This was dealing with actual people.

"I'll do all the talking. If translation is needed, can you do that?" Take the lead, but don't cut out the person you're teaching. He tried to remember the last time that happened, but failed. "Sorry to have to impose on you, but, well, my Japanese is non-existent."

Misaka waved her now empty bottle in one hand. "I can do that." She was still bitter at how he had played the Director, but now that she had some time to calm down, saw how it had worked out. It was a nice skill to develop, and when properly used – as Cole had done – would be an amazing advantage when dealing with people.

They tossed their bottles into a nearby recycling bin, and straightened out their clothes to present the best first impression that they could. "Say, do you have a business card?" Misaka asked seriously as she tugged at the hem of her jacket. She knew how uptight some of the businesses in Academy City could be about being proper with protocol.

"Actually, I do." He fished into one of his pockets and produced a small stack of still intact cards wrapped in a zip lock bag. "Though they're for my old business. And I don't think people will want to call Long distance for a job."

"That's not important. If we're going to be all nice and official about this, you need to offer your card to people."

"Why's that?"

Pleased that now she was the teacher, and he the student, Misaka tried to explain to the foreigner the importance of business cards and professional work ethics here in Academy City, and in Japan in general.

"I don't get it," Cole said after she was done. "But I'll do it anyways. Might save them up for a rolodex someday."

Aghast that he would consider being so _unprofessional_, Misaka was all set to rally against him when she brought herself up short. He was _toying_ with her, yanking her around to see how she would react, testing her self control. She could see it now in his eyes.

"Fine! Maybe I should take care of them?" She held out her hand expectantly.

"You want one, or a dozen to hand out?"

Considering this for a moment, the Railgun debated the merits of professionalism and politeness and decided to be the better person. "I'll take one." She could get more from him later if need be.

"You get twenty." Cole produced them and handed them over to the girl, who expressed surprise at the mass. "Don't hand them all out at one place."

She carefully put them into the pocket of her hoodie after examining one for herself. There was no way she'd ever use it, but it was nice to know that he did work for a legitimate business, one that employed Espers without problems outside of Academy City. "I'm ready when you are."

Nodding, Cole straightened his shirt again and relaxed his face and body language. While they were talking, he had scoped out the building in which they would make their first pickup of the day. It had no real outward signs to it, aside from the building number out front. His first impression was that it was a new location for the business, while his second was that it was a set up.

But for whom, he wondered. For himself as a trap, or for the girl, as part of the obvious manipulations into her education? Well, there was only one way to deal with both possible results. Exuding a calm confidence, he walked up the stairs and into the lobby.

The sense of newness was heightened when he stepped inside, holding the door open for Misaka to pass by. The faint tinge of fresh paint tickled his nose, while the uniform lighting and nondescript potted plants told him that this was either a poorly designed set for a poor TV show, or he would need to watch out for the movers coming and going. There was also a circular desk with a secretary sitting there, one chosen more obviously for her physical assets than her professional ones.

Walking right up to her, making sure that Misaka was at his side, he nodded his head in greeting. "Hello," he said carefully in case Misaka had to translate for him, "My name is MacGrath, this is Misaka. I'm here to pick up a delivery." For a moment, everything was just so normal, he caught himself wondering if he had locked up his bike properly before remembering that it had been destroyed in the Blast.

The secretary answered his greeting with a bow in her chair. "Hello. We are expecting you. Please wait." Her accent was thick, and it sounded like she was replying more through rote memorization of the lines than with actual conversation skills.

Cole looked down at Misaka. "You're up" he said, asking her to start translating. "Thank you for your business," Cole said through Misaka. "How long do we have to wait?"

The woman spoke back in much more natural sounding Japanese, which Cole understood through the device in his ear, and Misaka translated as well. "You will not have to wait long, Mister MacGrath. Mister Hitsoji will be down shortly with the files for delivery." She smiled politely at Misaka, not seeing the Railgun, but rather a student doing the well advertised Work Experience and suffering for it.

Cole bowed slightly, now absolutely sure that the suffix 'san' meant 'Mister'. He would have to keep that in mind. Stepping away from the desk, he waited for Misaka to catch up. "So, now comes the waiting part. Questions?"

"Why does this place feel fake?" She replied bluntly.

"So, you caught that too." Cole felt a little bit of pride that she caught on to the potential deception, but then decided to maintain it. "It feels to me like this is a new building and a new office. There simply hasn't been time for them to properly settle themselves in, and we're probably the first non-employees here."

Misaka almost wanted to believe him, but still had her doubts. But for the sake of getting past the dull parts, she put up with it, and moved on. "Can I ask a personal question?"

Cole was surprised at the request, but agreed.

"How long ago did you leave Academy City?" She knew he was first-class, but that still left a large period of time in the history of the City he could have been here. She was curious. And had a growing uncertainty about how to react to having a senior like him potentially around.

"What do you mean?" Cole didn't seem to understand the question, so Misaka elaborated.

"I mean, you're an Esper, and Academy City has the oldest curriculum for people like us in the world. I want to know how long ago your education here was."

"Never," Cole replied. "This is the first time I've been out of the States. I don't know much about the history of Academy City, but I can tell you that people learning to use their powers goes back over a century, though with not as much success." He didn't want to mention the Ray Sphere as that would be a stupid thing to do, while the information he got about Alden and the First Sons was spotty and untrustworthy. But he was certain they were developing Conduits before Kessler made his appearance.

He just knew what needed to be done, for the Ray Sphere, and his own plans.

Misaka didn't believe him. Everyone knew Academy City was the world leader in the development of powers. If anyone else was in competition, she would know! He had to be lying to her, but why?

Of course, the immediate answer was probably the correct one. The Dark Side. If he had rejected his association with the City due to the actions of those less than savoury, then yes, he would have cause to say that this was his first time in Academy City. And given her own experiences, she could sympathize. "Sorry I asked," she apologized honestly. "It was rude of me."

Cole waved the apology off. "Hey, don't worry about it. Mistakes happen."

Relieved at the forgiveness, Misaka waited patiently for their package to arrive. Although without a vehicle, they couldn't carry much fast fast. So it was probably something like a briefcase, or a folder. She took the opportunity to ask a more professional question. "What sort of deliveries have you done before?"

"Mostly small stuff - paperwork and small packages. I used a bicycle for the most part, so nothing really heavy."

Light and fast. That matched what she had experienced so far, though she wondered how being an Electro-Master and bicycles matched up. Maybe it didn't. Any further musings were halted with the dinging of the distant elevator, and a well dressed businessman came out with a briefcase. She straightened up, putting on her best behaviour before realizing that her hood was still up to protect her identity from people who may see her on the street. She dropped it as Cole stepped forward to greet the man.

"Cole-san?" The man asked and Cole nodded in reply.

"I am. Is this the delivery?" He gestured at the case while not looking at it, but rather looking his current employer straight in the eye.

"Yes." The businessman set the case down and produced a business card. "I am Hitsoji-san, thank you for your hard work." He and Cole exchanged cards, Misaka watching carefully for any misstep on the part of the American, though no unforgivable insults happened.

Cole picked up the case and examined it with a critical eye. "Everything is in here?" he asked as he tested the weight.

"Yes. Although the case itself is not the delivery. There are papers inside for our other office." Hitsoji explained, allowing Cole to pass the case back over to him. A moment later, it was opened and a half-dozen manila envelopes were passed over and placed into Cole's bag.

Misaka wondered how he was able to fit everything in there. She could have sworn there should have at least been a _bulge_ or something to mark whatever was in there, but there was nothing. Well, she had seen stranger things, so she put it out of her mind.

Cole's final question did take her by surprise though. "Can I get access to your roof?"

Hitsoji seemed just as surprised as Misaka. "I think that can be arranged. Why?"

"It would be convenient for the delivery and for my apprentice," the Electric Man replied, a knowing and sly grin on his face. "Some things are better taught from on high than from the ground."

Hitsoji frowned at the request. "I am not sure, as that is not a thing for me to say. I can let you speak to the man in charge of the building, if it something that must be done."

Recognizing a dismissal when it happened, Cole surrendered through his body language. "Nah, that's alright. We'll be off now." He bowed slightly, an action mimicked by Misaka and Hitsoji. Turning around, Cole strode from the building, with Misaka right behind him.

"Why did you want to go to the roof?" Misaka asked as Cole made a sharp left once on the sidewalk. "Don't you know where we're going?"

"Of course I do. I just wanted to be polite and ask first before doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Well, first we get up there, then I show you something cool." Cole moved past the questions unasked and unanswered in favour of ducking into a side alley. A bit further down, he stopped and looked up at the narrow gap between the two buildings, apparently satisfied with his choice. "Come on, get to the top, any way you want."

He quickly began to scale the building from side to side, finding hand grips on everything from small sills to pipes to what appeared to be nothing at all. Misaka watched for a moment in appreciation of the physical skill required before taking his instructions to heart.

She walked right up to the wall, and tested it, looking for the metal frame of the building. Once she found it, she magnetized herself to the building and with practised care, began to walk up the side. As she passed Cole, she grinned then stopped higher than him to look down on him.

"O.K." He was slightly impressed at the girl standing perpendicular to the wall. He caught up and they began to ascend at the same rate, Cole hopping back and forth between the walls while Misaka simply walked. "Interesting technique."

"It works." She was proud of herself for showing him something that apparently he couldn't do. "Never tried?"

"Not really. You're using the metal frame of the building, right?" At her nod he figured out the reason. "Empire City is old. A lot of the buildings are wood and stone, brick and mortar. And the newer ones are covered in glass. No real chance to develop that skill."

It clicked for her then. What he was doing, and more importantly, the _why_ of it. He didn't use his powers to perform actions. Rather, he used them to _augment_ his own physical prowess. They were additive in nature, not replacive! "It's not that hard," she said, lifting one foot off the wall to show off the small arcs of electricity.

"I think I'm too big," Cole admitted with a grin as he hopped back across the gap. "And too heavy. And too tall."

She thought about that. And saw what he meant. It would require a powerful magnetic field to hold him in place like she did. Not only due to the extra mass, but his height would also put him at a disadvantage.

Misaka was thankful that she would never grow that tall, or that heavy. She was confident that when she finally stopped growing, she would be able to retain this skill. Maybe he could have done it in the past, but not now. It was simple math.

They took their time getting to the roof, Cole arriving last as he flipped over the edge and regained his feet. "You want to call your family again?"

Misaka shook her head. In the back of her mind, she was keeping track of her promise to Kuroko. "No, I said lunch, and I meant it." She was honestly surprised that the teleporter hadn't 'accidentally' found an excuse to drop in on her, or spy from a distance.

"Fair enough." He stretched a little bit as he took in the roof. Just the usual clutter up here. Vents, stairwell leading down, a couple antennas. "Alright, time to move on. Two things." Cole rubbed his hands together, having found what he was looking for declined. A power-box sat up against the roof access, and Cole motioned for Misaka to join him over there. She approached, curious as to what this meant. "So, how do you power yourself?", he asked as soon as an errant gust of wind died away.

"What do you mean? I have power." She knew full well there was limits to that. Three days without sleep, culminating in a fight against the Meltdown had taken a toll on her, that was for sure. Which she supposed also explained why she reacted so badly when Accelerator's participation became known to her. "If I get tired, I just sleep."

"So, you're saying your power source is purely internal?" Cole was intrigued, as it meant he may not have to do this next thing. "You don't draw from external power supplies at all?"

"You can?" Misaka kept the surprise from her voice a bit. "I mean, how?"

"That's easy!" Cole reached out with one hand, and started to draw power from the box he leaned on, careful to not drain it so fast as to trip the breakers, and to make it look a bit more spectacular. If the girl's open mouth was any indication, he had succeeded.

"HOW?!" Misaka yelled now over the wind. "How do you do that without hurting yourself?"

"It's just electricity," Cole offered, only to be shut off.

"The current is totally wrong to absorb into the body directly, the amperage, the watts, the everything!"

"I've never had a problem with it." The native of Empire City simply shrugged. "You saying you've never had to do it before?"

"No! Of course not! Why would I do something so dangerous! You could hurt yourself!"

Now Cole was stumped. He didn't understand what she was objecting too. Maybe it was a matter of scale? "Look, I'm not saying you should go around sticking your finger into a main power-trunk," even he kept some separation from the third-rails on the train tracks and from the overhead power lines. "But you can interact with other electric devices without touching them, right?"

"Yes?"

"So the energy just goes the other way. Instead of putting some of your power into the device, you carefully draw it out." He stopped his demonstration to judge her reaction a bit more carefully.

"That's totally different! I can manipulate the electrons remotely to get the desired outcome! I don't actually have arcing electricity to and from something like the TV remote!" She took a breath. "Unless I'm putting on a show!"

"How so? You take from yourself to add to the machine!"

"No, I don't!"

The two of them realized the disconnect at the same time. Misaka was the first to put it into words. "You actually adjust your electricity directly. You can't do it remotely."

"All your powers are external. Not internal." Cole countered. "Holy hell. I can use my powers to strengthen my muscles, to think faster, to be stronger and faster and tougher. You can't!"

"Bioelectricity!" Misaka cried out. "You're a master at bioelectricity!" A form she was very poor at, she had to admit. Her strength lay in electro-magnetism for the most part, and while she had learned a bit about other applications, she found she had a hard time wrapping her head around the science involved where biology was concerned.

Which meant that... "What else can you do?"

Cole pondered on his own for a few moments. "I can throw lighting around, and a few other things." He didn't want to explain just how good in a fight he was. And how to reconcile the idea she had in her head that he kept his power inside himself. "But you know, this isn't the time for this. I had something else to show you." He looked up and grinned. "If you can learn by watching or experiencing?"

"Maybe? What are you planning?"

Cole unbuckled his slingbag and passed it over to Misaka. "Put this on, I'll need for you to ride on my back for this next part."

"What? Why?"

"We're going flying!"

"Flying." Somehow, Misaka kept the disbelief out of her voice. It was an effort worthy of a Level Five, that was for certain. "I can list on one hand the number of people in this City who can fly, and none of them are Electro-Masters."

"Really?" Cole considered this as the girl ignored the bag. "Alright, I mean, I'm not going to grow wings or anything like that. No, not that kind of flight."

Misaka herself had a limited ability to fly, but that was only under certain circumstances. Like being above a sufficiently large body of water, and with a great deal of concentration. She remembered the incident in Liberal Arts City clearly, and she doubted a man whose powers were internal could do a fraction of all that. Not to mention she had participated in an experiment involving superconductors to promote hovering, though it required laboratory conditions to work. Her pondering were interrupted as Cole deliberately bumped his pack into her face. "HEY!"

"Don't zone out on me. You got to put it on because you'll have to ride on my back." He wasn't sure if he could lift the both of them at the same time, but even if that didn't work out, there were other options.

Wait. He had said he needed her to ride on his back. Multiple times, and she had completely missed that! She snatched the bag by reflex, then noticed the smell of sweat and use that came with it. "Um, why? Is that even proper?"

"I'll need my hands free, and having you hanging from my neck is just asking for trouble." Cole replied soundly, having given thought to carrying people before. Not to mention memories from Kessler showing him doing just that during his flight from the Beast with Trish and their children. "Right now, we'll fly over to those power-lines down there," he pointed to a clear zone where the high-tension lines ran, "Then along those for about thirty seconds to bypass most of the foot traffic, and a quick drop to the ground before taking a nice stroll for about 10 minutes to our destination." He traced the line with his finger, watching as Misaka struggled with the bag. "Need some help with the bag?"

"No!" She didn't want to admit that defeat. Not after he promised her with all certainty to do something she hadn't thought possible. He wouldn't say it if he couldn't back it up. She fought with the straps for a moment, not familiar with the idea of a sling bag. But she fought with it before figuring out how to tighten up the webbing and securing it on her. The bag wasn't that heavy, but it was quite large on her, going from the nape of her neck down past her waist. And she could feel the weight of the items in the bag. "It's a little uncomfortable."

"I can see that," Cole agreed. "It's just too big, and you're not used to it." She glared at him for stating the obvious. "Well, come on then." He considered using the cash card to buy a properly sized bag for her, but dismissed it as a frivolous expense on his part. He turned his back to her, patting himself on his shoulder. "Hop on," he commanded, "Piggy-back style."

"Are you sure this is proper?" Misaka repeated, glad he was facing away from her as she blushed. "I mean..." She hadn't ridden on someone's back since before she was in Academy City, and that was on her mother's back. No, wait. It wasn't like anyone would see, right? No real fliers in the City, and people didn't tend to look up, which certainly helped when she went walking up buildings. "Never mind." She walked up to Cole and quickly hopped on, hoping the embarrassment would dies soon. After a moment of fiddling, they reached a mutually comfortable position with her legs wrapped around his waist, and arms draped over his chest, fingers connected.

"If you start slipping," Cole warned as he stood up, testing the new weight and his balance, "grab at my chin, not under, as I don't want you to start choking me."

Misaka fidgeted a little bit, thankful that for all the contact, he was doing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and that he couldn't twist his head around to see her crimson cheeks. All she had to do was relax, and pretend that maybe it was her father or someone like that, and not some American.

"Ready?"

"No?" Her reply finally betrayed the nervousness she felt.

"Too late!" Cole began to jog toward the edge of the building, causing Misaka to wince and clutch him tighter as they reached the edge. She could feel his power flow through him, the weird eddies and currents beyond her analysis as they went by too fast for her to process in the moment. He crouched at the edge, momentum building as he channelled energy into his legs, then with a mighty leap, ascended into the air.

And they stayed up.

For a moment, Misaka panicked, gripping Cole even tighter as she dreaded that first instance of falling, the movement of her stomach that would require her to save herself, and possibly him. But it never happened.

They stayed... _up_.

Cracking open her eyes, she looked ahead for a moment, seeing nothing but the distant destination. She looked down, and saw for herself that they had cleared the street already, and were floating over the lower buildings on the way into the valley that Cole planned to follow. She could see, from Cole's hands, the outflux of energy as he pushed himself and her forward.

They were flying. Really, completely _flying_.

"Oh, hell yes!" She nearly screamed out as the mere _idea_ of self-powered flight from an electro-master was proved beyond any possible doubt was made before her. Then she realized what she had said, and buried her face in his shoulder. "Sorry. That was rude of me."

Cole laughed, "I said the same thing when I first did this." He shifted a little to the right as they had drifted left in the moments since they lifted off. "If nothing else, this is what I wanted to show you."

Misaka looked around the City from an unfamiliar perspective. When she was this high, she was usually slinging herself around town on her electromagnetic catapult, or between Kuroko's teleports. Neither situation was good for just stopping and enjoying the scenery. And now she could...

No walls. No roofs. Just open air between her and the ground. The freedom was almost intoxicating. Opening up her senses, she watched as the power flowed through her teacher from the sum totality of his body into his arms and out his hands. It was amazing the level of control he displayed.

"How are you doing that?" The more she observed, the more it stopped making sense. The math she could calculate didn't seem to work.

"You want to learn?" Cole was glad she was showing interest in this skill. "I can show you a bit more when we land."

"Well, yes!" Misaka shifter her grip a little to pull herself higher. She wanted a better view. "I can't understand how you're pushing us up! It isn't proper magnetism or anything like that!" She had to raise her voice to get heard over the occasional bout of wind.

Cole wanted to shrug, but his load prevented him from doing so. "Never really thought about that. It works, so I didn't really question it."

"You.. what." Misaka was flabbergasted that he just brushed her off like that. Did he not think she could handle the math? "No! You have to tell me how long you studied to get this to work!" That would at least give her a time to beat. She could even accept a large number given the lead time he had on his power development.

For his part, Cole really didn't want to tell the girl on his back how he really activated the Static Thrusters. Plugging oneself into the power grid and seeing what came out struck him, in retrospect, as being a very stupid way to develop new powers. But it worked for him as there was literally nothing else. Well, that and Kessler would have arranged something, one way or the other. "Really? Not that long. It only took me a couple minutes to get my first practise jump in, and less than an hour to master it." Less than that, really. The photographer, once he found out about Cole's new ability, couldn't get action shots fast enough and that was plenty of practise.

She wanted to call him a liar. That there was no way for him to pick up a skill like this so fast. But doing it while they were still 10 stories above the ground seemed to be a bad idea. So she bit her tongue and focused on observing him as carefully as she could. See how he did it, and then go back and prove that she can do better by doing the math on her own. But no matter how, it just didn't make any sense. It was like he was throwing lighting from his hands, without focus or form, and she knew from personal experience that the recoil from lightning was more psychological than physical.

Static magnetism to interact with the planetary geomagnetic field? No, that was a stupid idea, and would require a huge field to interact properly. She had tried.

Under her observation, Cole seemed to tense up. "Problem?" she asked, slightly concerned about falling from this height.

"No, not really. We're not going to make it," Cole admitted to Misaka as he gauged the distance they still had to go, as well as the rate of their descent. "You're too heavy, and the wind isn't helping." No two ways about that, and he let his tone of voice be as apologetic as he could muster. He couldn't push himself up enough to make it to the wires. By his estimation, they would either have to come to a stop about a third the way up the power towers, which would involve latching on while in mid flight. Something he would do without a second thought if it wasn't for Misaka on his back. The other option was to set down early, and then climb to the top.

"I AM NOT!" Misaka complained reflexively at the jibe against her weight, even though the more rational part of her mind could see their rate of drop was too much. And he said it was because he was carrying her, then... damn him, he was probably right. And then an idea popped into her head, based on an understanding of his powers. "Hey, why can't I lend you some extra power to lift us?"

Cole was confused by what she was offering, so he expressed it. "What're you talking about?"

"You can drain electricity, right? From outside sources? I can make power!" She couldn't believe she was offering this, but it seemed like the right thing to do. And she could probably watch how he did it from a more direct perspective, to see if she could emulate him.

"NO!" Cole rejected the idea, horrified. "NO! NEVER!" He seriously considered dropping to the ground right then and there just to turn on Misaka and drill this idea into her head in the most direct and vicious manner possible. They weren't too high, so they would land easy being Conduits. But she tensed at his anger, holding tighter so he threw the thought out. She wasn't Zeke, she didn't know better. "Never," he repeated, a bit more calm. "Never try to take the electricity from another person. You'll kill them."

He still felt bad about doing it, but they were enemies, not civilians, and he was in the middle of a battle and couldn't find a better option. They _screamed_ at him as he ripped the electricity from their neurons, and if he could convince even one person to never even think it was possible, it would be a great victory.

Misaka felt the force of his rejection as he stopped focusing on flying for a moment, a slight lurch before he regained control. She didn't know why he felt so strongly about it, but she suspected that he had experience with the idea due to his speciality. She had to drop the subject as it was in her best interests to not fall to her death, but instead she chose to apologize. "Sorry," she said quietly, "I just thought I could generate electricity outside me, then you could drain that for extra lift."

"No." Cole stamped down hard on his feelings again. No sense it taking it out on the girl. "No, not taking any chances with that." He grunted as he made his landing decision. "Apology accepted."

They flew on for a few more moments before Misaka had an idea. She looked at the distant wires, and gauged the distance. "Well, what about this, then?" She loosened up her grip on Cole and raised one hand toward the power lines. Math running through her head, she sent a small line of electrons at her target, wrapped them around and back to her to complete the circuit without getting in the way of Cole's power. "Got'cha!" she grinned and _pulled_

Cole squawked at the sudden lurch from his load. "What did you do?" He demanded as he righted himself. They were going faster now. Was she... pulling them in?

"Magnetism!" Misaka was triumphant. "You can keep us up, I'll pull us closer!" She leaned forward, causing Cole to shift his weight again to raise her other hand and repeat the same Ability usage.

"Hey! Hey!" Cole complained again as he moved his hands down to direct all his power into staying up. As much as he wanted to berate her for doing this without letting him know in advance, he had to admit that it wasn't the worst spontaneous idea he had seen or implemented. And it was working, an important factor in him letting his annoyance go. "Warn me next time!"

"Sorry!" She wasn't, really. Although she did keep an eye on how the EM fields between the two of them interacted, just in case something went wrong. They weren't as fast, the intensity of the magnetic field at this range wasn't enough to match Cole's own speed, but as they got closer, they would definitely accelerate. Hooray for the Inverse-Square Law!

"So..." Cole began to ask as they drifted out over the city and into the greenbelt. "How many of us are there? In the city, I mean?" Something a little less technical and more social seemed to be a good idea given their isolation.

"What, Electro-Masters?" Misaka repressed the thoughts of the Sisters, but couldn't deny their existence. "A bit over 10,000, last time I bothered checking." It was a rough estimate, as 10032 was the 'oldest', then add into that all the non-Clone Electromasters, and you got a number between eleven and twelve thousand. That number grew as you expanded your definition of 'Electricity' to include people like Meltdowner.

"Huh. There was me and... one other. In Empire City." Misaka could feel the hesitation in Cole at that, thought she knew enough to not pry. "Lots of other Conduits though. Most were telekinetics of one stripe or another."

The Lighting Man found it difficult to put into words the encounters he had, even in general terms. How would he go about describing Sasha? Even if he wanted to?

"Anyone with interesting powers?"

And there was the question he didn't want to answer. "A couple. Most Conduits kept their head down with the things going on, so the ones I had to deal with were the more... combative types. There was one guy who wanted to be King, well, he built Golems. Out of garbage!" He had the least personal feelings about Alden, so talking about him was a lot safer.

And where were the non-hostile Conduits anyways? Even after the City was being restored, he honestly expected someone to show up. There was no way that _everyone other than him_ joined the bad guys in carving up Empire City into their personal play parks. When he got back, he would have to talk to the Warden about that.

"Garbage? Really?" Misaka's thoughts went along the lines of trash bins and the like being used to create a giant robot shaped thing.

"Yea. He ripped a bridge apart to build the last one, before I took him down." His memories of that battle were clouded by the sheer rage he felt as he chased down Zeke and Kessler into the Historic District. He did clearly recall that the Polarity Wall made a mockery of most of Alden's attempts to hurt him.

"Big one?" Misaka had a bad feeling what his answer was going to be.

"Couple miles long. It's going to take a few years to fix it. Assuming they don't just rip what's left down and build a new one." He gave a slight shrug. "Fretting over that isn't going to help."

"No, I suppose not." An Esper had ripped apart a giant bridge to make a Golem to do battle with? That much damage would be unthinkable in Academy City, yet Cole had obviously won that fight. So maybe it was all bark and no bite?

They settled into a system, him pushing and her pulling. Up above the majority of the city, they each saw different things in the patterns and buildings below them. Cole saw a place that had not seen the hardships of Empire City, who had found a different way to bring their Conduits into society. Under him was place that was at peace with itself.

He knew that his home was years away from that now. There was too much to do, too much bad blood. Even all his help was little more than one freak beating up other freaks in the eyes of those who didn't want to think about the reality of people with powers.

Misaka saw something different. Picking out distant landmarks, it became apparent that she didn't really know what she was looking at. Academy City was built for people on the ground, not flying above it. The many skyscrapers behind and to their right stood like crystal spires, those that were still not being repaired from the events and attacks of the past couple months. And in front of her, she could see past the limits of the City and into Japan proper.

Her world, she realized, was small. To see her City from above, she tried to reconcile all that had happened with the inscribed circle around her. And what did that mean when she was the third ranked Level 5 in Academy City? What was all that when there were other Cities, other nations, other Espers that could do things like this that she had never conceived of? The City was small, was she also?

No, that was stupid. She was just reacting to the sudden shift in the knowledge of what she could or could not do, and she was getting mopey. Perhaps they could take their lunch at the Judgement Branch, and let Kuroko do something stupid to take her mind of things?

Of course, that would involve the Teleporter actually doing something. While Cole would be there. No thanks.

"Hey," Cole commented, breaking her stream of thought. "We're almost there. You can stop now and I can handle the landing."

"Are you sure? I can help!" Misaka replied as she saw that yes, indeed, they were very close to the power lines. "Wait. How are you going to do that?"

"Just going to aim down a bit, grab onto the towers below the wires and climb up. Then I can start grinding along the lines." The explanation was simple and to the point.

Brow furrowed in thought, the Railgun thought about what he was saying. "You can't!" She finally realized what he was saying. "I've tried that before, and I made of mess of the power-grid!"

"Really?" Cole landed with a thump against the tower, grabbing hold tightly. "What do you mean?"

"If you're going to do what I think you're planning, then the last time I did that, I made a mess of the power going through the lines." Misaka reset her grip as Cole climbed a bit higher, reaching for the last link before the electrical lines themselves. "And can you handle that much power?"

Cole shrugged slightly. "Why not? I did it yesterday and today and no one seemed to mind. Maybe we're just doing it differently. Let me show you how I do it, and we can talk about it after we land."

"Um, sure?"

And with that, Cole jumped up the last gap to the wires, settling on magnetic cushions to prevent him from touching the wires themselves even as he threw sparks out from the interaction between his feet and the cables. The flow of electricity wanted to drag him one way, but he forced himself to go in the direction he wanted, and he leaned into the current like he always did and threw out his hands behind him, using his thrusters for greater velocity now that he didn't need to fly.

Misaka bent in, seeing that while Cole was using his powers to push a lot of air out of their way through a low-grade ionic shield, a bit still got through, a low roar of wind that he was far more used to. But looking down showed her more of what she wanted to see than that. He rode above the wires, his internal electro-magnetic field pushing him away from the field being generated by the power lines. And while she could observe how the two interacted, she inwardly cursed that she didn't have the training or expertise to copy what he was doing. At least not right away. She knew she could do it as well – there was nothing out of the ordinary going on, just a different way of interacting with the electricity below them. She could take mental notes, then work on it in her spare time.

Her observations stopped when Cole announced that they were at their stop and twisted his internal field to maximize the repulsion that kept them from the wire. The sudden jolt from the altered acceleration caused her to tighten her grip for a moment before the now-familiar feeling of gently floating through the sky returned.

Looking up, she saw that Cole was aiming down a long commercial street. "Are we going to go wire-riding again?" she asked, hoping for more observations to cut down her development time for the skill.

Cole shook his head. "Nah. The current on the street there is too low, it would barely support me, let alone both of us." He considered another option. "You know, we'll have time after the delivery, how about you practice, if you think you've got a handle on it?"

Misaka almost agreed immediately, the thought of actually _learning_ something new almost overriding her sense of what was proper or not. "I think we can do something like that," she said after a moment to control herself.

Cole wasn't fooled. He could feel her jump when he made the offer. It wasn't a complicated skill to learn he figured, so why not offer?

"How much farther?" She asked as they descended past the shortest of the buildings. So far no one had looked up at them, though she had no doubt that someone would notice eventually. Assuming someone hadn't looked out the windows.

Would anyone care?

Cole aimed for an empty piece of sidewalk, and judging the distance to be safe for his passenger, let go of the power keeping them afloat and let gravity do the rest. He landed solidly, a heavy thud that could have been much worse had he turned it into an attack, though not as well had he rolled with the landing. "You alright?" he asked Misaka as she slid off.

"10 meters! You could have killed yourself!" Her anger was mixed with a little bit of concern, he judged, but let it roll right off him.

"What? I'm a Conduit." He wondered if the safety of Academy City meant that the people around here hadn't had a chance to deliberately discover just how tough they were. "So are you. A fall like that is easy." Maybe he would tell her about the time he jumped off the top of Alden's Tower, but decided against it. No sense in talking truths that would seem to be lies. "Anyways, we've got another few blocks to go." Checking the mechanical watch on his wrist, Cole began to walk down the street, ignoring the looks he got from those who saw their landing, Misaka in pursuit.

"So, when do we practice the flying thing?" She was busy crunching numbers on the wire riding, seeing she could adjust her own existing skills to do the same thing. It wasn't something that would come up in every day use, but it would be nice to have as an option. All she needed to do was apply herself a little differently!

"In a bit. We'll work with short jumps first." Cole looked around at the buildings, all of which were too high for practice. "I'll probably have you start by learning how to thrust while on the ground, then move to actual hovering later." He didn't doubt she'd be able to pick up the skill fast, it seemed natural for Conduits (and the more natural Espers) to pick up new abilities on the fly like that, pun unintended. It was just making sure she did it in a safe environment, rather than in the sewers and utility tunnels of Empire City.

"Fine." She didn't like being denied like that, but saw the value in low-level calculations first. She wasn't familiar with this street, as it was mostly residential on the road that led back down into the green area they had flown and rode over. "Now where?"

Cole checked the address he had been given again. "It's written in Japanese." He handed it over, though he already knew where to go. "Can you read it for me?"

"Sure." Misaka snatched the paper with a bit more force than necessary, and quickly checked the address with what was around her and her own mental map of the city. "It's up that way," she pointed up the street, then a little to the right. "I think."

"Good." Cole didn't want to admit to his preparation yesterday. Good navigational skills were hard to come by, and while this was her city, it took constant practise to keep everything in position. Even he got lost on occasion.

To be fair to himself, he had to admit, that was usually because he was chasing down Blast Shards and John's drop points instead of focusing on what other people wanted him to do. At least he had enough presence of mind to not go chasing down a nearby Shard while in the middle of a firefight. Unless of course it was on a building he was climbing anyway to get an advantage.

Or he could just be making excuses. The girl had taken the lead, obviously thinking that he intended for her to guide them to their destination. It would do. In her shadow, he watched her, full of confidence and pride. She was adapting to the courier job nicely, though he wasn't sure if it was honesty or just to get to the good stuff as the reason.

And he still wasn't sure if his original hypothesis was correct or not, that she needed education in power usage. She didn't seem to have any troubles with them, and her reaction to some of his mundane abilities seemed to indicate that she wasn't having troubles internally rather than externally.

He would hate to try to teach a Conduit who couldn't control their own powers. That would just be a mess and a half. He was lucky that Zeke knew electrical engineering. Then he forced himself to put that fat bastard out of his mind.

"So, I got a question for you." Cole said as they waited for a crosswalk light to change. Neither one felt like using their ability to manipulate the traffic patterns.

"Ask," Misaka agreed.

"I get you can do the whole magnetic body thing, but from what you've said, you can do other things." It wasn't so much of a question as it was an open-ended invitation to speak a bit more. "Now, I know I've been holding out on you, so when we get to the real stuff later, I think it would be a good idea to know where we stand on things."

There was no way, Cole decided, that he was going to tell her about the Ion Storm.

There was no way, Misaka decided, that she was going to tell him about the Railgun.

"Well, I can remotely control electronics," Misaka admitted proudly.

"Nice! I was doing some tests yesterday at a local hospital, they wanted to see how my powers worked in healing others." Cole sagged. "Turns out I don't actually properly heal anyone, rather I just give them a jolt to keep them moving and alive long enough to get to where they need to go." And it wasn't perfect. Sasha's goo could re-exert control after a short time, and there were people he couldn't save, like Trish.

"That's sad. Healing is a really powerful Ability." The girl tried to be comforting, but couldn't really manage it.

"That's very true." Cole was building up to revealing the Shockwave. He felt bad about stepping onto the toes of the girl in front of him, power-wise. They seemed to have separated themselves by the specifics of their powers, which allowed her to maintain some sense of pride. But the Shockwave was also the least directly lethal power he could possibly teach, or at least that seemed to fit with what she could already do.

"And we're here." Misaka announced suddenly.

"That was quick," Cole muttered as he looked at the building. "You want to handle the delivery, or shall I?"

"You can," Misaka gestured for him to step ahead. "I still have to learn, right?"

Cole snorted. "I think you can handle it just fine, you don't look like someone who will screw things up."

"Ah, but you're my teacher! You're supposed to take care of me!" Misaka taunted as Cole pulled the package out of his bag.

Cole didn't believe her. But he lead the way into the indicated building anyways.

They stepped out, business completed. "I still can't believe we got paid in cash," Misaka commented as she carefully counted her share. Cole has split it with her 50/50, and while it wasn't a lot, it held a certain promise that she didn't know what to do with. "You said so earlier, but I thought we would get paid with a card, or you know, a paycheque at the end of the weak, or something less... underhanded."

Cole laughed at her predicament. "And why shouldn't you get rewarded for a job well done right away?"

"It's just weird!" Money was money, right? And they were doing Academy City business, right?

"Why don't we take a break then?" Cole offered. "Grab a snack, then we can get to the real fun."

"Sure!" She didn't want to drop in on the Judgement office yet, not without something to show off yet. "We're going to do that sliding on wires skill, right?"

"Sure," Cole agreed. "I also thought of something else, if we have time."

There was more? Misaka wasn't surprised. Not really. "So, where do we go?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you knew a place close by to grab like a bag of chips or something."

She didn't want to admit that she had no idea where the nearest store was, so she pulled out her phone and quickly searched the Academy City Maps for one. It didn't take long, thanks to GPS, and she whipped it around to show her mentor where it was.

"You do realize I can't read a word of that, right?" He commented dryly.

"Oh. Sorry." At least he wasn't annoyed with her using the phone in the first place. She knew a lot of people didn't like that sort of technological use, but maybe he was more understanding? "It says there's one a couple blocks back that way, a 24 hour store."

"Lead the way then."

She started to jog and Cole asked a question. "So, what's it like in a city full of Conduits?"

He kept using that word, when it was wrong. Or at least not right. "Normal," she replied. "I mean, sure, everyone has Abilities, but it's not like we go out of our way to make a fuss over them." Public relations not withstanding. Or Skill Outs. "Why, doesn't your home have many?" It was a jibe that Academy City was the world leader in Esper development, some lucky American not withstanding.

Cole felt sorry for lying. "A month ago? Less than a thousand in Empire City. Can't say much for the rest of the country."

"And you're the strongest?" She asked the question before she realized it, the words far too late to take back.

Cole stopped in his tracks. Kessler. The fight in the crater caused by the Ray Sphere. He looked to the distance with sad eyes. "Now I am."

Looking at him then, Misaka knew she had misstepped. He had _told_ her about the terrorist attack! What if it was targeted against the Espers? Cursing herself, she put on a cheery face and gestured wildly in the direction of the store. "Well come on then! Let's grab something!"

Putting the past behind him, he caught up to the girl. "Hey, don't feel bad about asking. I didn't really try to let you know about that. I just... I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry for asking," Misaka responded. "So, once we've had our snack, where did you want to go?"

"I've been looking around for a good place to try and safely show you how to grind, but aside from the heavy power lines, there's not much in the way of options." Cole grumbled as he looked up.

"A lot of our power cables are buried under ground, in utility tunnels. I don't think there's room down there to ride them."

"No, there ain't." Cole didn't bother to argue the point. "Worse comes to worse, I can just ride around on the big lines, and you can watch."

Misaka didn't like that, but recognized that he was trying to protect her from screwing up. "Maybe we can find some other way of doing it?"

An idea struck him. How he could put one and one together. "You know, if all else fails, I can show you how to project a larger scale magnetic field, which I use to help me grind. You said that you made a mess of the power lines because you interacted too much. I may be able to help with that, then you can do the rest."

Misaka thought about that, and agreed. Her issue was in controlling herself on the wires. She could do 'big' easy, and can focus on the very small. But middle-road skills? Not so much. "Let's look around first. Maybe there's a construction site."

Cole nodded.

"So," Cole started to ask as he and Misaka relaxed against the wall beside the convenience store. The person at the counter knew less English than Cole knew Japanese, so Misaka had to do all the talking. "Why does the city use plastic coins?"

The Railgun knew. It was because of her, and her signature skill. Used with metal coins, and the amount of damage she could cause would be catastrophic. Plastic was much safer for the collateral. "Because Academy City is the City of the future, and we use plastic, not metal, which has other uses." She recited the official line with all the frivolity it deserved.

Cole remembered from school that WW2 Japan was short on metals, so be just attributed it to that instead as the real reason, with the politicians in the city playing word games to make their choices seem better. Plastic money was just stupid.

Misaka watched Cole as he forced himself to drink what she had gotten for him. While it was tempting to buy something horrid tasting and claim it was a proper drink, poking fun at her teacher like that wasn't high on her list of priorities. Still, he didn't seem to like the flavour, but was still taking it to be polite. She could respect that.

Wait. When did she start _respecting_ the foreigner?

Oh, right. When he decided that _flying_ was a legitimate way to get around.

"So," she asked to hide her thoughts, "what made you get into the Courier business, even though you have your powers?"

"Flexible hours, decent pay. Got to stay in motion." Cole gave the honest answer, neglecting to mention he had his job before the powers.

"I would have thought that people would want you for, you know," she sparked out a little.

Cole rolled the nearly empty bottle in his hand. "No. It took a while to convince people I wasn't some sort of evil freak. You gotta remember that Academy City is comfortable with their Conduits. Empire and the States aren't." He gestured at some students coming out of the store. "I'll bet you they all have powers. You pick a random group like that in Empire, and not only would they not, but three of the four would react negatively on sight."

Misaka couldn't imagine that. But then again, she had grown up in Academy City. Was it really like that outside the walls?

"Maybe you could stay?" She asked. If we stayed, well, there would be someone in the city she could relate to – power wise that is.

He shook his head. "Maybe another day. After this job, I got to head to New Marais, on the south side of the States. There's some people there I have to meet up with and have... interesting conversations with." The offer was so damn tempting, but no. He couldn't stop fighting while the First Sons still existed.

She saw that he didn't say 'no' either.

"Come on." Cole finished off the last of the bottle with a gulp, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Let's get to the fun stuff."

They couldn't find a set of wires that Cole was comfortable using. They either didn't have enough current to support him, or were too high capacity for him to risk the girl on. That left plan B. While was disappointed, he was also a bit happy that he could teach something different.

They stood in an empty lot, Cole having rolled a large, but empty trash bin to one side. They got curious looks from passers-by, but no one called the cops. "Now, you're probably going to wind up better than this than me," he admitted without being sour. She specialized in magnetism, so it was only natural. "When you create your magnetic powers, how far out from you can you do it normally?" He knew she could reach out pretty far from when they were gliding, but that couldn't be a normal circumstance.

"A few meters, why?" She wondered why he had brought over the bin, and kept glancing at it, in case she was missing something. Was he going to try and teach her to push and pull it at a distance? He could do that? But so could she! To demonstrate, she anchored her stance, and began to roll the bin toward her over the ground.

"Neat." Cole approved of the fact that she had the basics, though he himself couldn't do that. "But not what I was getting at. "Know what? Best if I show you the end result, then we can work to that."

Curious, Misaka stopped allying force to the bin and stepped away. Cole dragged it back to the edge of the lot, then stepped around it to face down the long length of the empty lot. A knot appeared in her stomach, worried that he would try to 'teach' her how to perform the Railgun – by using a trash bin two meters across, rather than a coin. The energy involved, she did some quick calculations, assuming he would push it to the other end of the lot, would rival her, depending on how fast he moved it.

"Watching?"

"Yes."

Cole eyeballed how much distance he had to work with, then pushed out with his arms, hitting the empty bin with the Shockwave. He held back a bit, not wanting to risk it leaving the empty space. But the bin jumped into the air like he envisioned, and the charge from being caught in the centre of the blast was obvious to him as it floated through the air. "That," he said, "is the basic power behind grinding. I call it the Graviton Blast." Zeke named it, but fuck him, he wanted a snappy name to impress the kid.

"WHAT?" Misaka yelled as she watched the metal container float past her, Cole walking behind it, keeping an eye on it. "That... that...!" She could see the push. That was _easy_. She could have done that years ago if she had thought about it. But the rest... He hadn't done anything she could see to cancel the inertia of the bin, he stood still while the bin went moving away from him, a clear violation of the conservation of momentum. Then the fact that it was _floating_ along without any further input, it wasn't telekinetic as she could observe the residual energy that somehow kept it up.

And the worst part was that the American was enjoying her confusion. He actually had the gall to grin at her! "Neat, huh?"

"That's not possible!" No, she slapped her forehead with her palm. "No, it's possible, you're doing it. HOW?"

Cole's face became more serious. Now was the hard part. "A lot of little things. Let's start from the beginning." He reached up and drained out the charge from the bin, letting it crash to the ground. He probably broke something from the sound of it, but he would pay for it later. "Step One, applying force in an instant, rather than over time."

"That's easy." And Misaka demonstrated control over the time function of her equations by sharply applying power to the bin, causing it to jerk away.

Cole nodded. "Step One. Check." His reaction was completely toneless, causing the girl to get annoyed that he wasn't reacting properly to her success. "Step two, aim."

"What do you mean, Aim?" Misaka turned back to the bin, and began to try out just applying force for a split second, getting a handle for how much effort she put into the tweak of her normal skill, and how much it affected the target of her practise. "I connect a magnetic field between me and the bin, and push or pull."

Cole thought about it for a second before making a connection. "Two things. First, I can separate the field from myself, and secondly, I can use the Blast to 'clip' an object, and send it sideways from the direction I'm pushing." He demonstrated with a low power shot, aiming to one side of the bin and did as he promised, sliding it to one side. "Now, I can't lift it into the air unless I aim directly at it, but that's why I want you to practise aiming."

Flabbergasted at another apparent violation of everything she knew about electromagnetism, Misaka wanted to yell at how he had to be cheating. But she had seen too much to make that accusation lightly. "Let me think," she said, buying herself some time to model what needed to be done in her head. It _looked_ easy. Just rotate the magnetic field a bit to catch the target away from the centre. But he also said that he could disconnect himself from the field, which was stupid. Any child could tell you that a magnet had two ends, called North and South.

And she was the Railgun! She knew more about this that anyone except possibly the Sisters, and that's because there was ten thousand of them!

Unless... A magnet with...

She stopped, stunned at the implications. She was being played for a fool, but at the same time, she could see the sheer, unbridled genius that was Cole MacGrath.

"Thought of something?" he asked encouragingly while just standing around. Occasionally someone would stop to look at the two, and he just waved at them to let them know everything was all right.

"Monopoles! You make Monopoles!"

Cole didn't know what those were. But he saw that she apparently did, so he moved to cover his lack of knowledge, and maybe figure out what she's talking about at the same time. "What makes you say that?"

"It's the only way to explain what you do! A normal magnetic field as two poles, forces going in both directions. But you break that by applying force in one direction. The only way to do that with electromagnetism is through the use of a monopole!" Misaka part lectured, part exclaimed as she worked her way through the ramifications of it. That a person who specialized in bio-electricity could pull that off with such ease was part galling and part inspiring. And she could see Cole with a slight grin on his face, like he was proud of her.

Cole vaguely recalled a monopole as being a magnet with only one end to it, though how that was supposed to work was beyond him. "Does this mean you can or can't do it?"

Misaka stopped, mouth open slightly. "I _think_ I can. But I would need to do some research." She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, dialling the only person she could trust to get the information on short notice.

"Moshi-moshi!" Uiharu picked up the phone on the second ring, "Misaka-san! How are things?"

"Good, Uiharu! Can you do me a quick favour?" Misaka clapped her hands together in supplication, even though her friend couldn't see the action.

"Sure! What is it?" On the line, Misaka could not hear Kuroko clamouring to speak to her, a gamble that paid off.

"Could you gather some files regarding Magnetic Monopoles for me?"

"Magnetic Monopoles." Uiharu repeated, the sounds of typing coming quickly. "May I ask why?"

"My teacher is showing me something, and I need some more information to figure out how he did it." Misaka saw Cole smirk at the confession out of the corner of her eye, but ignored it. "Don't send it to my phone, I'll see if we can stop by there for lunch."

"Of course!" Uiharu was always glad for casual company while at the Judgement office. "Shall I tell Kuroko?"

"I think she'll find out with or without you saying anything," Misaka admitted. "Thank you."

"You're welcome! See you soon!" Misaka let Uiharu finish before hanging up.

"So, making plans for lunch to visit your friends?" Cole asked as soon as the phone was away.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"Nope!" Cole shrugged, "I said we can set our own hours as long as the jobs get done, and I would be lying if I said I hadn't done the same thing in the past." Picking up flowers for Trish for example, then delivering them to the hospital or which Clinic she was at that day.

"Thank you!" Misaka bowed, "until then, can I practise more? I have a couple ideas I want to try out."

Cole gestured at the bin. "Be my guest. Let me know if you want some feedback or another demonstration."

"Actually, yes please." Misaka asked politely. "Can you make it float for a long time? So I can observe it?"

Cole did some guesstimating in his head. "Not for too much though, it would drift out of the lot."

"As much as you can then, please."

"Sure." Cole dragged the bin to the edge of the lot again, then hit it with the Blast, sending it flying into the air, air resistance causing it to tumble gently. He watched Misaka study it intently, walking to keep up with the motion of the bin. "Not going to ask how this related to grinding?"

"No," she said without taking her eyes off the bin. "I think I have that figured out. You keep a field like this between you and the power lines, which allows you to move with less interference."

"I'll leave you to it then." Cole sat down on the ground, delving into his own thoughts. Over the past few weeks, he had spent so much time _using_ his powers, he never had the chance to sit down and figure out _how_ they worked. Here in Academy City though, it seemed like they thought theory more than practise. Which made sense when you were dealing with a formalized school structure.

That also meant that his more intuitive way of utilizing his powers was a bad fit for teaching Misaka. He was lucky that she was smart enough to take what he was doing and build it up into something she could understand.

Her offer, no matter how casual, was starting to look more and more desirable. After hitting up New Marais, what was there to stop him from leaving the US behind, and moving here? This was a city that respected Conduits, no roving bands of gangs out to hunt people down, no psychotic mind-controlling bitches, decrepit has-beens with delusions of power and glory, or manipulative bastards out to make ones life a living hell.

It seemed like a good idea. Get a job as a courier, maybe start his own business. He certainly knew enough about that to get by. Just start over.

But only once every last First Son was dead, or in prison.

And even then, the Beast was still out there. He would still need to be ready to fight it. And maybe having allies at his back would help, no matter how powerful he was.

It took about twenty minutes before Misaka had a breakthrough. No matter how she tried, she couldn't figure out how to make a monopole like Cole did, so she tried a different approach. Going from pushing and pulling a larger mass while anchoring herself, she expanded the field outward, into a larger curve, rather than a more linear approach.

By rotating the field, and not putting the bin at the far end of it, she could cause it to move in a direction that wasn't on a line between her and it. At first she made it move side to side, whereupon Cole took more interest in what she was doing, which she took as a good sign.

Then she went for the important development. Inside a rotating frame of motion, side to side was just as easy as up and down when one looked at it from the right direction. Which she could. Gravity was still in effect though, so it would be harder, or at least take more energy. With a grunt of focus, she spun the field faster, changing where the bin was in relation to her, and it started to float. Just a centimeter at first, she got a better handle on the math involved, and slowly lifted it into the air.

"Not so high," Cole warned. "In case you drop it."

"It's empty!" Misaka objected, "And there's nothing under it! If it drops, no one is getting hurt."

Cole didn't have a counter to that, so he gave up. "Alright then. But be careful. Don't push yourself too hard."

"I won't," she promised as lowered then raised the bin again. It was all so simple, but in the back of her mind, she knew she wasn't doing what had been asked of her. The foreign Esper seemed to understand that she needed time, but it still didn't sit well.

"Try walking around with the bin in the air," the man suggested after a couple minutes of levitation. "Lifting is all good, but moving stuff around is better."

Nodding, Misaka took a step back and the bin dropped to the ground as the distance increased. "Damn. I messed that up."

"Move the bin with you," Cole said. "Moving one or the other can come after." He couldn't do what the girl was doing, so all he could do was observe and make comments meant to help her develop her power a bit more. "Just like dragging it behind you or pushing it ahead."

That was a lot easier. Back and forth and back and forth, then improving to swinging it around from side to side, Misaka got used to altering the size and intensity of her magnetic field while Cole looked on. She could imagine the possibilities, especially if she went with something lighter so she could apply her refined ability at longer ranges.

"Time," Cole announced.

"What?" Shocked, Misaka almost lost control of her field, but regained it in time.

Motioning at his watch, Cole repeated his comment. "It's almost time for lunch, you've been at this for half an hour now." He was impressed with her endurance, but that was no reason to skip a meal. "And besides, didn't you make arrangements for lunch?"

"Uiharu!" Misaka exclaimed as she looked around for wherever it was Cole had gotten the trash bin from. "I forgot!"

"I didn't." Cole couldn't blame her for being distracted by the new power, and the promise of what it could lead to. He had a lot of thoughts himself, and hoped that the trip to where she was going would allow him to ask some questions. "So, where shall we meet after your lunch with your friends?"

"Huh?" It took her a moment to realize what he asked, and to recognize the mistake. "No, no! It's not private. Uiharu does computer work for Judgement, so sometimes I buy lunch and take it to her office."

An older friend, Cole surmised. Maybe a friend of the family. Not that he wanted to dig too deep into her private relations. "So, how many are we buying for?"

Misaka counted. Herself. Cole. Uiharu. And she had to account for Konori Mii, Saten, and of course Kuroko. "Six."

"Alright. Lead the way. You know where to get this stuff. And don't worry, I'll cover my share of the costs." Cole promised, confident that this would qualify as a legitimate use of his cash card. Not to mention having actual cash on him. "So, what's Judgement?" He was confused as to why a Japanese organization would use an English word as its name.

"You don't know!?" Misaka exclaimed as she tried to figure out how someone couldn't know about the civilian police force in the City. Then she mentally hit herself on the forehead. He left Academy City before it was founded, _duh_. "Judgment is a volunteer force of civilian peace officers dedicated to maintaining the good morals and integrity of Academy City." She had heard the line often enough from Kuroko, so it was easy to recite the basic recruitment line.

"They have powers?"

"Most of them do. It's seen as an acceptable way to use ones abilities in public without being rude."

Cole considered this, and realized it was a pretty damned good idea. He knew from experience that when it came down to it, the best counter to a Conduit was another Conduit. So why not gather up those who were more civic-minded, and train them to act like police. Except... "Hold on, are Judgement the Police?"

Misaka nodded. "Effectively, yes. There is also Anti-Skill, who would be the equivalent to.. SWAT? I think they're called that in America. The highly trained specialists who deal with violent crime." Of whom she could recognize most of them by sight by now, given the number of times that she and they have been in the same location.

He could see that, he really could. And didn't Harms mention them as well? He thought back and realized that yes, the Warden had mentioned them a couple days ago. "Anti-Skill has a reputation, even in the US," he hedged his bets a little. "Never heard of Judgement before now, that's all."

She couldn't wait to let Kuroko know that, it would be a blow to her ego! Well, either that, or it would encourage her to even greater heights. She wasn't sure she should risk that.

"So," Misaka asked, changing the direction of the conversation, "Can we climb up another building a glide some more?"

"It would be slower," Cole figured, "as I can't go as fast with you on me as we could on the ground. Especially going up hill." He figured she just wanted to experience flying again, and while he completely sympathized with the desire, there was a time and a place for everything. "Let's just walk for now, if only so I can play at tourist." He grinned at his own comment, then spoke again. "So, where's this office?"

"Near the Seventh Mist. It's a shopping mall in the Seventh District," Misaka quickly pointed in the right direction.

Cole may have passed the place yesterday, he realized, or even the day before. Although he would have expected a police office to have more presence, so he put it out of his mind as just a case of him not going past it at all.

"So, we're picking food up at the mall?"

"No, there's a place closer that knows me, so I go there instead."

"Always nice," Cole admitted. "I've got a couple places like that back home, though thanks to the condition of the city, they haven't been able to be as nice to me as they were in the past." They stopped to let the lights change on the road, allowing a bus to pass them by.

As they walked, they talked a little bit more about casual things, like foods they liked, and the weather. They soon arrived at the store where Misaka bought the food, Cole paying for his half out of the cash they had been paid in before picking everything up. "I can handle this load better than you," he said, balancing everything he didn't want squished in the bags while the rest went into his sling bag.

Only slightly annoyed by this display of chivalry, Misaka let him carry the whole load as she led him to the Judgement office. Once there, she bid him stay outside for a moment. "I just want to see who is in, and, well, it's an office, and you're a stranger, they may want to put things away first."

"Fair enough." Cole was familiar with the occasional need to keep secrets (Moya be damned, obviously), and to be honest with himself, carrying food for six people in plastic bags was starting to pull at his hands. Although it felt more like food for eight. What was going to await him, a horde of starving teenagers?

Misaka hopped up the last couple steps, then knocked on the door. "Uiharu? It's me!" She opened the door to see who was in the bright office. True to her expectations, Konori-san was, as well as Saten. Kuroko was not, which she knew could change in an instant.

"Hello!" A chorus of greetings came back, Konori, the head of the Office stood up to greet her. "I hear you brought lunch."

"I did!" Misaka announced. "My Work Experience Teacher was kind enough to help carry things, and he's waiting at the bottom of the stairs for the all-clear."

"All clear?" Konori asked, before what being said was made clear. "Sorry, yes, it's clear. Kuroko is currently on patrol. She's worried about you, you know."

"I figured as much." She relaxed a little, before knowing that it could go horribly, horribly wrong in just a second. "Cole? You can come up now!"

Cole took the bags in hand again, and climbed the last bit of stairs. He rapped one knuckle on the door frame to announce he was coming in then stepped around.

His first impression of the office was that it was tiny. Shelves and shelves of boxes with paperwork were neatly stacked everywhere, with a couple desks situated near the front wall. In the back corner a computer sat that was just bursting with power. "Hello," he said carefully. "Uh... Ko-Nee-Chee-wah?"

"Come in!" Misaka said, pulling off her hoodie, leaving her with the sports t-shirt on underneath. "Food on the table. Uiharu, can you start on your tea please?"

Stepping in, Cole carefully made his way to the table in the area of the tight office set aside for lounging. There was a girl there with long black hair that looked up at him with a mixture of awe and confusion. Cole indicated with his load that he needed a clear place, and after a moment, the girl realized what was being asked of her, and quickly cleared enough space for the bags.

"Cole," Misaka said, pointing at everyone in turn, "This is Konori Mii, head of this branch of Judgement; Uiharu Kazari, who runs the place pretty much." She got a glare from Konori for that. "Ruriko Saten, a friend who likes to hand out here, and not present is Kuroko Shirai, another member of Judgement." She turned to Cole, switching to Japanese. "Everyone, this is Cole MacGrath, my Work Experience teacher for the day."

He waved with one free hand, feeling a little awkward at the stares he was getting. "Hello."

"He-lloooo!" Saten said in heavily accented English. "Welcome!"

"Thanks," Cole replied politely. "Um, plates?" Based on the food, he figured they would be using chopsticks, but there was way too much for people to help themselves straight out of the boxes. He straightened up, and his motion was limited by the presence of the second oldest person on the room.

"Cole MacGrath?" Konori repeated. "Although introduced already, I am Konori Mii, head of this office. While you are here, you will be on your best behaviour, and if work happens, you will follow my orders perfectly. Which will be 'leave'. I am understood?"

He wasn't intimidated in the slightest, but there was enough in her tone that made him measure her at 0.01 Harms in terms of being able to actually enforce her commands. But he wasn't here to make enemies, and he wasn't about to annoy someone who was a rent-a-cop on their home turf. "Sure, gotcha. Now, plates?"

"I got them!" Misaka announced as she came back from the small kitchen, giving room for Uiharu to work her magic with the tea. Setting them down on the table, then looked around. "Cole, there are some chairs behind you. Please get them."

Seeing a far more relaxed version of his student now that she was with friends, Cole complied. He found some fold-up plastic chairs leaning against the wall by the door, which he grabbed and set up enough for everyone to sit, including the missing person. "Look, I don't bite," he said to try and cut some of the tension his presence caused. "We're just taking a break for lunch."

"So," it was Uiharu who spoke first, beating out Saten who had opened her mouth. "What Ability do you have?"

"Electro-master," Cole replied as soon as the translator caught up, doing his usual trick of arcing electricity between his hands. He got nods of understanding from everyone, as well as looks of confusion. He wondered why that was, given that he was supposed to be teaching. Maybe they were expecting someone a bit more local? He wasn't about to tell them about his meeting with Crowley about the First Sons as the real reason he came to town. This whole Work Experience gig was just a cover when you got down to it. "But according to Misaka, I'm better at internal electrics than external."

Confusion. "Huh?"

"He said that he's better at Bio-electricity than I am, which is true," Misaka admitted as she started to feed herself, a signal for all the others to dig in. "But I can do things he can't."

To Cole, that was almost an admission of pride. Once the others had started, he then took a plate and started to help himself. "So, who else works here?"

Konori answered between mouthfuls of noodles. "Just the three of us for the most part." She looked around. "Although we do have our own fan-club," Misaka and Saten did their best to look innocent. "I'll get them to join eventually."

"I don't have any abilities!" Saten objected, though Cole could see something there that was a bit deeper. "I couldn't help."

"Don't sell yourself short," Cole said gently. "I've seen plenty of people without powers take the fight to Conduits. You don't have to have powers." He refrained from wondering why they were all kids. Konori was a young woman, and Uiharu, while obviously young, just seemed to be a paper-pusher. And he had no idea about this Kuroko person, though he thought that maybe Misaka had mentioned her earlier.

"I don't understand what you said," Saten admitted. "My English isn't that good."

Misaka groaned. "Oh no! Cole has the translator."

That peaked Uiharu's interest. "Translator?" she chirped as she leaned over the table.

Cole obliged her and pulled it out of his ear, wiped it off on a napkin, then passed it over. "Japanese to English," he explained as she looked it over.

She responded with gibberish, which Cole regarded with bemusement. "No idea what you just said."

"She said that she had heard of it, but this was the first time seeing," Misaka provided a quick translation. Then she rattled of a quick comment to the young flower-wearing girl, who sheepishly returned the device to Cole.

"Sorry," she said once the device had been restored. "I didn't realize that you wouldn't understand us."

"Forgiven," Cole waved it off, careful to keep his words simple as they seemed to know more English than he knew Japanese.

A whistle came from the kitchen, and Uiharu was up like a flash. "Tea's ready!" she said, obviously eager. Cole figured it had to be good by the reactions of everyone else, though he had to admit that caffeine had been hard to come by the past couple weeks. Any source of it would be good for him.

To add to the moment, a phone rang, and it took a moment for Misaka to realize it was hers. She plucked it out of the pocket of her jacket, then flipped it open. "Hello?" She winced at the reaction. "No, I'm fine. We're having lunch." "At the office, why?" Then her face paled as she realized what she had said and snapped the phone shut. "She's coming!"

"Who? This Kuroko person?" Cole asked as his answer came with the sounds of something _sliding_ around, and something appeared out of nowhere in mid-air. His first instinct was to attack, or at least throw up a shield, but the lack of reaction from everyone else caused him to hesitate.

"ONEE-SAMA!" Kuroko yelled out as she teleported into the room, and then re-teleported to latch onto her favourite person in the room. "Did you miss me?!"

For a moment, Cole saw that Misaka was considering trying her newly developing power to push her attacker away, but thought better of it. She didn't know it could work on people too, and even if she did, the room was far too small. Instead, he watched with concern as, for a lack of a better word, his student was... molested? Not in that way, just aggressively approached, and worshipped.

The girl was a teleporter, he saw, comparing the quite and nearly invisible appearances and disappearances to what Sasha's Conduits, or even Kessler could pull off. They were loud and obvious, he saw, perhaps not even truly teleporting, but as that bastard had suggested, 'Flash Stepping' around, which apparently was somewhere between running from point to point and true teleportation.

It was something he had never seen before, so he watched the girl carefully now that she wasn't zipping around. She was young, small even, twin tails on her hair only emphasizing her youth, even though the voice was far older.

"Kuroko! We have a guest!" Misaka began to physically pry the small girl off her with one hand, the other pointing at Cole. "Behave! You're embarrassing me and you and everyone!"

"We do?" the girl said as she took in the people present. When her gaze fell on Cole, he offered a small wave.

"AH! Sorry!" She teleported from Misaka to beside Cole, only his electric awareness letting him know where she was before sight kicked in. "I apologize for my unseemly behaviour. I am Kuroko Shirai, member of Judgement, and loyal friend to Misaka Mikoto." She bowed deeply.

"Cole MacGrath, Courier, Electro-master, and today's Work Experience Teacher," he offered a hand to shake, one culture's greeting meeting another. "Grab a plate, food's still warm." Now that he could get a good look at her, he wondered just what the hell was up with this city when they put out kids as their police. Sure, Conduits vs Conduits and all that, but there had to be a limit!

Unoffended by the culture clash, Kuroko walked for the first time in Cole's presence to the table where she helped herself to some meat and veggies. She kept stealing glances at Cole as she tried to pry into Misaka for what had happened so far, though the older girl kept her face full of food, not words.

Finally, he had to ask the question that kept bothering him, directing his attention to Konori. "So, aside from you, where are all the adults?"

"What do you mean?" She replied, "We're the only ones in this office."

"I mean, I get you guys – being Conduits and all means you're the best for catching other Conduits, but why are you working with kids?" Cole swept the rest of the room, even though he only needed to catch two of the four friends sitting down. "I would have thought there would be more adults working here."

Putting her foot down, Konori stared at Cole. "And just how old do you think I am?" she asked in her native tongue, trusting in the translator more than her English skills.

There were certain tones of voice that were universal, and Cole knew a few of them well. This was one where he would have to play polite guest and compliment the young woman in the skirt. "Twenty," he said, averting his eyes out of some distant sense of guilt.

"I am NOT that old!" Konori raged, though not at Cole in particular. "I am young and beautiful and I have a boyfriend!" Uiharu poured a fresh cup of tea for her senior, and bid her drink to calm down. "I'm still in High School!"

"He could be saying you're mature for your age," Saten tried to speak diplomatically, though it didn't get through. "Kuroko-san?"

"Yes! That's right!" The small teleporter jumped into the conversation. "One's physical age has nothing to do with ones mental age and ability!"

Cole counted desks and chairs. Maybe he had misread the purpose of this office? What if it was just a file-storage office, not a dispatch or investigation office? That would explain why they had kids here. "I ain't saying it's _wrong_," he lied, "it's just surprising."

"And how would you know?" She shot back, oblivious to her actions as she was. "How old are you?"

So he told them. "And I'm not the oldest Conduit, even in Empire City." He was pushing it with the last part. He didn't know if there were any other victims of the Ray Sphere outside of Empire, but he was certain of the former.

That brought Konori's thought process to a halt. "That can't be right," she objected.

"She's right!" Uiharu chimed in, "Academy City isn't that old!"

Misaka shook her head. "I already asked about that, everyone. Cole is First Generation." That brought a moment of awe to the girls sitting at the table as the fact they were sitting in the presence of a living piece of history sunk in.

"And I told you I've never been outside the US," Cole countered. "Academy City does not have a monopoly on people with Powers."

"But their research is behind Academy City's," Uiharu said. "That's a fact."

Cole snorted, having information she didn't. "Behind doesn't mean they started after. Sit down," he addressed Konori before taking a sip of the utterly delicious tea. "And let me tell you about Alden Tate."

He recalled being distracted while Moya briefed him on Tate's history, his worry for Trish being far more imminent concern. But he had cleared things up with her later in the day before he met John and long before he cornered the man on the bridge and he jumped.

"Alden Tate is the son of a man named Richard. I don't know who his mother was, they're both dead." He still maintained that Alden was alive. A fall into the water wouldn't kill him. "Richard Tate founded a certain group" - no mentioning the First Sons by name - "that wanted to research and develop people's powers. This was near the end of the 19th Century, I don't have the exact dates."

"No way," Kuroko muttered. "They couldn't have..."

"They did. Although nothing much came of it. Rather, Alden was born between the World Wars," that was a guess. Moya's information was incomplete, or she never told him. Either one was likely. "His father and his people found that he had powers, telekinetic in nature. In the secret society, he was seen as the pinnacle of their success." Now he was guessing, filling out the story based on side observations, untrustworthy sources and pure story-telling gumption.

"But things went wrong for Alden. The organization got... well... stolen by another member, also with powers." There was _really_ no need to mention Kessler by name, nor that he was already a grown man when he usurped the First Sons. "In the little civil war they had, Tate's family was killed," - the only reasonable conclusion, "and Alden was tossed out onto the streets. He grew up in and around Empire City, only to emerge after the attack a few weeks back."

Now he had no problem telling more of the truth. "The attack was carried out by the winning side of his dad's society, for what ever reason people do such things. Alden rallied the homeless, the poor, hell, anyone who felt like he did, that they had been denied their _birthright_" he sneered at that word, "and set them to take advantage of the chaos.

"He didn't take kindly to me cleaning up his part of town, and threatened people I cared about. Which included tossing a bus atop a fifteen story building with the flick of his wrist. He got arrested, killed cops in his escape from prison, and tried to make his daddy proud in his own twisted way."

He sighed. "I finally pushed him back from his home fort, and he tried to flee across the north bridge to the Historic District. He and I had it out, trashing the bridge in the process, and he fell into the water afterwards. Even though he had gone senile, or mad, his powers only made it worse in his old age."

Cole looked up and saw that he had the complete attention of his audience. "So, yea, when I say I'm worried about kids being police, it's because I've seen what happens when things go bad. And I don't want you to see what I've seen."

Uiharu pulled a tablet from somewhere and was madly tapping on it now that Cole had finished his story. "One moment," she begged for time as she finished calling up the information she wanted, heedless of the security she bypassed in the process.

"Here," she announced, handing the tablet around, "This is public satellite imagery of the northern bridge in Empire city," she pointed to one side of the screen, displaying a daytime shot of the multi-mile causeway that had been a major tourist attraction on par with say, the Golden Gate. "This," she pointed to the other side, "is a picture from a military overflight two days ago."

Cole looked at the pictures without touching the device so as to not short it out. "Looks about right. Less loose debris though. Suppose most sunk, or got carried by the currents." The others took turns looking at, and comparing the two pictures, Cole putting on a show of being unimpressed. He considered how he would react if he saw the results of the Blast, but decided that it wasn't worth getting worked up over. No, it was better to let the kids see the collateral from when two Conduits really went after each other, and to understand just why he was worried for them.

Although everyone had their own expressions of disbelief, Misaka kept herself silent. She was a Level 5, and her signature Ability, she knew, could cause massive amounts of collateral damage if used improperly. Or properly.

Looking at the before-and-after shots, she knew deep down that she could do the same thing if it came down to it. And here was her mentor admitting to getting into a fight, that if it had happened in Academy City, would have been worse than the explosion in the downtown office buildings last month by a huge margin. That it happened on a bridge with (hopefully) no civilian casualties was the only positive thing she could get from that.

But it also meant that Cole was holding out on her, massively. He could get into a one-on-one fight against a telekinetic and _win_ proved that he had more Abilities than simply flying and grinding and Blasting. She also suspected that he was toning down his Blast for her sake.

Could she blame him, though? She passed the tablet to Kuroko, who looked over the damage with a more professional eye, which after a moment, she could see in her friend and room mate a certain level of shock and disbelief. Then a surreptitious glance back at her, to ask if this was within her power to do.

Misaka avoided her friend's look, affirming the worst.

"I'm sorry girls," Cole said as the tablet made its way back around to Uiharu, who put it into standby. "But when Misaka told me about Anti-Skill, she told me they were like special forces, riot cops and the like. So when I see young kids like you doing police work, it offends me. Especially in a city with so many Conduits."

Kuroko eyes Cole with wary concern. Her precious Onee-sama was in his hands, and that meant she needed to have his measure now more than ever. Or watch over them directly. "I think you misunderstand the purpose of Judgement, sir." She eyed his reactions carefully. "Judgement does not respond to violent crimes. Rather, it is our responsibility to see that the peace is maintained, and our City is well ordered. If there is a serious issue, then we are to call for the assistance of Anti-Skill to deal with a major threat." She pointed at the inactive tablet. "That would never have happened in Academy City."

Cole wanted to snort at her claim, wanted to point out how the Trashbaggers were more than just Alden. They were an army unto themselves, the equals to the Reapers and the First Sons. Unless Anti-Skill had _tanks_, he didn't see how they could win with her claim of no collateral damage. Instead he shook his head. "Let's not think about that. I'm sure we can make claims about things until the sun goes down, but that doesn't change what's in the past."

"Can I ask a question?" Saten asked, raising her hand like she was in school still. "Why do you keep saying 'Con-doo-eet'?"

Misaka and Cole shared a glance before Cole took the lead in answering. "It's just a national thing. You guys call yourselves Espers. In the States, we say Conduits. Nothing more."

"I thought Esper was the internationally accepted term," Konori commented. "Why the difference?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know. It's just a word. I'm sure the scientists and all say the right thing."

Saten frowned, her view of the universality of the word removed.

"So, I do have a question for all of you though," Cole said as he helped himself to some more food, noting that the meat was rapidly dwindling. "She and I," He gestured at Misaka with the stick in his hand, "both use electricity. If it's not rude or anything, can I ask what you all do?"

The girls shared a glance. "Not really," Konori said. "I'm Clairvoyant, Level Three. Could you pass the milk, Uiharu?"

Passing the requested drink, Uiharu spoke next. "I am a Thermo Hand, Level Two. I keep cold things cold and hot things hot."

"Teleporter," Kuroko said with pride. "I can go anywhere! Such is the power of a Level Four."

"I don't have one," Saten admitted. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Cole said firmly. "I can tell you that you don't need powers to be someone." John wasn't a Conduit, and Cole was proud to know him. And Harms. Even that bastard had some qualities, but that all got washed away with his stunt on Alden's Tower. "It just means you have some other skill or the like that you can work with."

Saten recognized that Cole was trying to be nice, even as she slowly pieced together what he said. "Thank you for your encouragement, Cole-san!" She smiled, though she felt the slightest pang of guilt at the memories of Level Upper. She would never do that to her friends ever again.

The rest of the meal was taken up with casual conversation about school, the weather and local sports. The kind of conversation people have when there's nothing to talk about. Soon, the food was gone, and Cole offered to help clean up, being the guest. Uiharu accepted, and the two gathered everything up and headed to the kitchen, leaving the rest behind.

Misaka dropped the mask. "Damn it!"

Kuroko, not knowing why her friend was annoyed, but eager to help in any way she could, went for more information. "What is wrong, onee-sama?"

"It's Cole!" She griped. "He's got techniques that I'm barely wrapping my head around, and he won't tell me how he does them!"

Konori sighed, falling into the role of den mother with ease. "And what makes you think he's doing it to antagonize you?"

"I asked him to tell me! And he wouldn't!"

"I would call that being a teacher." She countered as she adjusted her glasses. "Or is it that he's a foreigner, that by your reaction, may actually impinge upon your position as third Level Five?" There was a time to be nice, and a time to cut to the heart of the matter.

Misaka crossed her arms. "There's no way he's a Five."

"And yet, he can do things you can't."

"Like what?" Saten asked before Kuroko could, earning her a short glare from the smaller girl.

"He can slide over electrical wires better than I can. He can remotely magnetize objects and throw them, like my Railgun, except with things as big as trashbins or more, and a lot slower." She took a deep breath. "And he can fly."

The first two were simple admissions of relative skills, nothing that would be out of place. But the last was what brought people's attention to bear. "Flying?" Kuroko asked, incredulously. "But he's an Electro-Hand, not a Telekinetic."

"You think so?" Misaka described how they glided across a park after climbing the building, and how Cole noted that if he wasn't carrying her, he wouldn't have lost altitude. And she believed him, even as she still couldn't figure out how he projected his Ability from his hands to push them up.

Saten mulled this over as Misaka recounted her tale. "Maybe he's forgotten?", she said as the Railgun finished. "I mean, he's old, right? So what if he's done it for so long he doesn't remember how he uses his abilities any more – he just uses them?"

That was enough to give the working girl pause.

"Who wants more tea?" Uiharu announced as the two returned from the kitchenette.

Cole glanced at a nearby clock. "None for me, thanks. He looked at Misaka, and gestured at the door with his head. "Come on, time for the next delivery, then more practise." He bowed slightly to Uiharu. "Thanks for the tea, and I'll share some with my friends when I get home."

"You're welcome!" Uiharu bowed back, pleased at the compliment. Her tea – international!

Cole thanked everyone for the company and the food, and made his way to the door to collect his shoes. Misaka was a little slower though as she flagged down Uiharu. "Hey," she asked quietly, "Once you've got all that stuff together for me, just send it to my home e-mail, will you? No need to take up my phone's bandwidth."

"Oh!" The young flower-wearing girl exclaimed, "I already did! There's a lot of complicated math there, my eyes were swimming!"

Misaka smiled. "Thank you!"

"So, where to next?" Misaka asked as Cole oriented himself on the street outside the Judgement office.

"Why? You eager to show off what I've shown you already?" Cole humorously poked at his student. "You think you got everything?" He switched to being a bit more serious. "Because as much as we both know what's really going on, I still have to take the day job seriously."

She considered. "It's not really hard. I mean, you still have to be polite to people, and don't screw up." Then she grinned. "Did anyone ever try to take your deliveries before?"

Cole was about to say "Yes", when he stopped himself. She wasn't asking if he had to deal with people trying to rob him, she was asking if he had used his powers to fight them off. Why should she ask that? But of course, it was because he had told them that he had fought Alden, and then had implied that he had caused just as much damage as the decrepit telekinetic had.

He slumped. "Look," he chose to cut to the heart of the matter. "I'm not going to teach you how to fight." The Blast was far enough, he was sure. "Yes, I can go up against people with powers that can wreck cities, but that doesn't mean that you should be looking for such a thing."

She glared at him. "And what do you mean by that?" Her tone was challenging, to his ears like she thought she actually knew what it was like to get involved in an urban war. "Are you saying I can't handle it?"

"Maybe you can, power-wise." Cole admitted his gap in knowledge where his student's powers were concerned. "But that doesn't mean I would be right in showing you. I mean, your city is intact."

Misaka knew she had pushed wrongly, and that her teacher had firmed up his choice to not demonstrate what he could really do. But then again, she concluded, if he could demolish kilotons of steel in a single event, then perhaps he was also being considerate of the fact they were in a city, and he could cause a lot of collateral damage in the process.

And she wasn't about to drag him to a testing facility, just to satisfy her wants. She cursed her misfortune, wondering for a moment if _he_ was nearby. If Cole stayed in town, she could take her time to learn the secrets to his power, but the time limit was just making a mess of things!

And that meant she had to swallow her pride. Again. "I'm sorry I asked," she said, bowing half-heartedly. "I should know my place." It was all very formal, and would have placated one of her normal teachers, but she didn't know how he would respond.

Cole sighed again, wishing not for the first or last time he was better at this sort of thing. He could not imagine training Conduits day in and day out, but at least he and the girl shared the same power type. What would he do if she threw around Ice, or Fire, or threw concrete, or something really weird? Nothing, that's what. It was because they were both Electrical that he was here; and there was no sense in thinking about impossibilities. But he knew he still had to offer some sort of olive branch. "Look, I'll give you a chance with the next delivery. You do good, and I'll show off something a bit more... spectacular." He figured firing off a dozen rockets into the air, then bolting them into the river should be neat. Something visual without being damaging.

"Agreed!" Misaka stuck out her hand in the western style of making and keeping a bargain. "I do a nice job, you show off!" Shaking his head, not quite certain what he had agreed to, Cole shook her hand, neither of them looking to shock the other. "So, where to?"

They walked, at Cole's insistence. "Why?" Misaka asked. "We can get to a building a fly around some more!"

"Because," the Electric Man replied, "as much fun as that is, walking is good exercise. Also, you see things down here that you can't up there." And, he didn't note, was that their destination was up-hill of where they started. No amount of flying would get them up there faster than by going on the ground.

"You're just making excuses," Misaka accused him without being serious about it. "But I'll go along with that."

Cole grunted. "Maybe, maybe not. While we're walking, let's run a couple scenarios though your head." He drew on his experiences for his impending questions, not just from his own personal events, but also from the stories he had heard form the others he had worked with over the years. And he knew he could trip up the girl easily, there was a lot of screw ups and malicious actions that he could draw upon to show her that the job wasn't as easy as he made it out to be.

Hell, even he got tripped up when Kessler promised him more money to check the damned Ray Sphere. His greed did him in. "Let's start with something simple. Customer gives you the wrong address."

"Call back and confirm." Her reply was extremely quick.

"He confirms the incorrect address."

"Um..." She thought for a moment. "Check the business directory for the person I'm supposed to be going to. Maybe the person who hired me was given the wrong address in the first place?"

"Maybe." Cole was glad he went with an open ended situation that everyone in the business had gone through. "If you have an address, even wrong, why didn't you decide to check the adjacent locations? Ask around?"

Misaka didn't have an immediate response. "It would be rude to intrude on people like that," she finally said. "I don't know how you Americans do it, but here, that would be... impolite."

Cole couldn't wrap his head around that. "What, you mean to tell me that you people wouldn't be willing to help give someone directions? That's stupid!"

"It's more than that!" Misaka tried to explain, but didn't know the English words. "You can't just go around asking for help like a beggar; there's a certain pride that you are expected to have! Talking to someone for clarification isn't bad, but approaching a stranger for help?"

"You're not begging for money," Cole countered, knowing how he had been accosted for cash more than once, before and after the Blast. "There's a difference."

"Not really."

They stopped at a crosswalk, neither one budging from their position. Cole accepted that asking around was a legitimate option, while Misaka held otherwise. At this impasse, Cole chose a different situation. "What about a package that's too heavy for you to move, or too big to fit in your bag?"

After a moment's though, Misaka knew the _perfect_ answer. "I put it in a metal box, or a tray, and use my ability to levitate to carry it!"

Cole couldn't really object to that answer, even though it wasn't what he was looking for. "I hope you're planning on securing it," he said slowly.

"I'm sure I could do that," it wouldn't have been the first time she had bent metal to hold something in place. The light changed, and they crossed the street.

Misaka took a moment to revel in the anonymity she had this day. Normally, she would be in the school's blazer and shorts, and every student would recognize at least her school if not her outright. Although on the other hand, it was a good way to keep track of her Sisters as she was on the lookout for sightings of her when it wasn't her.

Then the revelling was passed by. She led on the turn to the right, her teacher with all his secrets making a sharp twist to follow. Changing her internal monologue, she found a different measure in him, one that she didn't think he was really aware of. Sure, she was athletic; it came naturally when you were pushed to be your best, but Cole was on a whole different level than her. She could naturally attribute some of that to the fact that he was older, larger and more muscled than she could ever hope to be, and far more experienced.

And he was a _courier_ of all things! There was nothing amazing about that! She accepted that maybe he chose that job because it wasn't high profile, but a man with his abilities could do so much more!

The fact also remained that she had a long ways to go in terms of her physical development. She didn't set it as a goal for herself, but she wondered what she would look like in ten, fifteen years. While she and her mother were spitting images of each other, she was an Esper as well, and that would change things as she grew up. She hoped.

"Whoa!" Cole called out from behind her, causing Misaka to look up.

"Yes? What?"

"You walked right past the pick-up. Too much in your own little world, I think." He shook his head in mock sadness. "Gotta keep your head up."

"Sorry," she legitimately apologized. "I was distracted."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing much." He didn't buy it. "The future, a bit."

Cole nodded in understanding. "Let's do the pick up. We can talk after." He gestured for her to go into the building first.

Only for Misaka to do a double take. "Wait! This is the hospital!"

"Yeah." Cole agreed. "I was here yesterday for testing out my healing powers. I wonder if the Doc's made any progress yet?"

"Want to stop by and ask?"

He shook his head. "Nah. He promised to call me, and besides, one day isn't enough time."

Misaka puffed out her chest in pride. "This is Academy City! A day is nothing to our science!"

Cole chuckled. "I'm in no rush. We see him, we see him. We don't, we don't."

Muffled at his dismissal of the prowess of the City, Misaka spun on her heel to march into the Hospital that _he_ was often in, and where the Frog-faced doctor resided. In. Out. Nothing to it.

Crossing the threshold, they both waited a moment for their eyes to adjust. "So, you've been here before?" Cole asked.

"A couple times. As a visitor, not a patient."

He didn't bother to answer that with words. "Come on, third floor." Remembering that this facility had elevators that wouldn't break with him in them, Cole led the way. He briefly considered that maybe they were built with the girl in mind, but dismissed that as ridiculous. "You ready?"

"Yes." She firmly announced, squaring her shoulders in an imitation of Cole's professional stance. "Let's get this over with."

The ride up was quick, plenty of room in the elevator for them and everyone else. Cole was given a wide berth due his physical presence, and being a foreigner, while Misaka stood in the empty space he gave off. Another advantage, though one she didn't really want to exploit, being seen in the shadow of the American.

On their floor, they vacated the elevator, and Misaka read the map on the wall across from them to find where they needed to go. It was a part of the building she hadn't been in before, so she took her time.

Behind her, Cole waited patiently, letting her set her own pace. He had been impressing that on her the whole day, so it was time to put words into practise. He fell into step behind the girl, keeping an eye out in case he saw anyone that he had met the day previously. No one showed up as they turned into a small set of offices that seemed more like glorified cubicles. Cole had an internal smirk at that. Another thing that didn't change. "Take off your hood," he whispered to her, "don't hide your face."

"I'm not!" She stopped to say to him, only for Cole to take advantage of his height and position to flick the forward peak of the hood back. "HEY!"

"Trust me, keep your face open." He repeated as he watched her mess with her hair. "Sure, people could still see you, but with the hood around," he mimicked the frame of the hood, "you don't get people looking at you right."

"I knew that!" Misaka hissed back. "So why'd you do that?"

Cole sighed. "Because I'm worried?"

That comment brought her up short. Then she looked away. "Fine! See if I care. Any other words of 'advice'?"

"Look up, not down. Speak carefully, but don't sound stupid - people will think they can take advantage of you for it." Cole recited some basic things to make her seem more personable, and not like an unprofessional teenager.

"I can do that!"

He leaned down to whisper in her hear. "Prove it."

"I will!" She snapped back, withdrawing from his proximity. He shouldn't have been able to get under her skin so easy! Huffing, she slapped her cheeks to bring her to her senses, then turned around again, ready to face the world. Or at least the office lady who was waiting patiently. She approached, and bow politely. "Hello. I am Misaka, and that is my mentor, MacGrath-san. We are here for a package to deliver," she announced as she bowed.

"Ah, yes, we've been waiting for you, Misaka-chan!" The saccharine-sweet voice made the diminutive slightly unbearable, though she had enough experience with people not knowing who she was and addressing her improperly to not let it show.

And she thanked whatever spirits that watched over the city that Cole hadn't called her Sparky either. Though she supposed that maybe he had been on the receiving end of that in the past, and thus didn't want to share it forward. "Thank you for your business!" She replied with a smile that wouldn't fool her friends, but was enough for the stranger. "We are ready for the delivery!"

"Of course, chibi-chan!" Misaka was glad she was still bowing, as her face contorted in anger at the second unknowing insult. "It's right here!" She took a moment to take a deep breath, then straightened up, a smile on her face. Accepting the package, she noted for the first time that she didn't have a bag to carry it in, and holding it in her hands would be awkward for any length of time. She turned to hand it off to Cole while the office lady got the paperwork straightened out, only to find that Cole had taken off his bag and was holding it out for her.

She glared at him, so he whispered back. "Your package, your responsibility. Besides, we're going up for this, so you'll have to take it anyways." For a moment, pride warred with the desire to get up into the air again, and the result was a resounding rout – she took the bag. After signing for the pick-up, she worked to adjust the unfamiliar bag over her shoulder. How the man did it, she could only attribute to experience. "You ready?" He finally asked as the office lady ignored them, and Misaka finished fiddling with the straps.

"Yes." She didn't want to sound too eager to get up. "Can we start from the roof? I know the way!" Well, maybe just a little eager.

Cole grinned. He could get behind that energy with no reservations. "Lead the way." He gestured for her to pass him by, and then fell in again. As they left the offices, he spoke again, "So, she really got under your skin, didn't she?"

Misaka fumed, her anger almost physical with its heat. "She called me LITTLE!" she hissed, Cole's translator allowing him to connect 'chibi-chan' with the perceived insult.

"Well, you aren't exactly tall," Cole commented. "You been drinking your milk?"

"What are you? My mother?"

Cole laughed. "No, no. Not at all. But, you know, I could see you getting angry."

Her first response was to turn on Cole, and lecture him on the subject of not prying. But then again, foreigner or not, he was still a teacher, and that meant that enquiring as to his students was acceptable and proper. "I just don't like it, that's all." Her response was evasive, and Cole accepted that.

"Fair enough. But if you feel like someone is doing that for you, and you want time to take over, just give me a sign. I'm not going to leave you out to dry."

"That won't be necessary." She was able to control her temper then, she could do it again, no problem. "But thank you for the offer."

"No problem. So, elevator or stairs?"

"Elevator."

On the roof, they walked across the empty helicopter pad, the wind starting to pick up. "At least it's a tail wind," Cole judged the angles and being good for a long glide.

"Hey!" Misaka objected.

"What?"

"This is my delivery, so shouldn't I plan out the route?"

Cole stuck one finger in the air to raise an objection, but then lowered it. "No, you're right. I got ahead of myself. So, where do you want to go?" He waved his hand out over the edge of the building. "You direct, I'll carry you."

Having won, she looked out over the city from a not completely familiar point of view, with an eye for things she didn't quite know what to see. Sure, she was aware of electrical power in her city, but to see it as more than the blood of Academy City seemed... Like something new she needed to learn. "We go that way," she said pointing down toward a distant radio antenna. "From there, we can ride or run the rest of the way."

Looking at the object in the distance, Cole measured out a flight plan in his head. And then had to redo it as he remembered the added weight he would have to carry. "Yeah, I think we can. Maybe have to skip along a building or something, but it should be easy to get there."

Proud that her choice had been validated, Misaka hopped up onto the edge of the building, then looked back at Cole. "So, come on then!"

"You do remember you have to ride on my back, right? I got to keep my hands free to control motion."

"Oh. Yes. I remember." Misaka hopped off the edge and found Cole's back to her, him already kneeling to let her climb up. After only a moment's hesitation, she did, and soon they were back in the air.

Her phone rang, and Misaka glanced down at the pocket it was in. High over the city, she couldn't just reach down and grab it, not without disturbing their flight path. She resolved to ignore it. It would go to her mail box if it wasn't a spam call.

The phone stopped ringing, and they went on. Then it rang again. Misaka frowned and looked down as well. "Hey, this might be important..."

"Sure." Cole said, knowing how important it was to take calls even in the middle of a run. He leaned to one side, and aimed for the side of a building they were passing by. He figured they would make contact with it about three stories up. "Wanna hit the ground, or can you take it on the wall?"

"Wall," Misaka said, sure of herself to stay fixed and take the call. She had done it before.

A couple moments later, Cole gripped a ridge between two windows, and checked them for occupants. With none, he swung around to fix himself against the building and to allow his passenger to reach into her coat.

Instead, she hopped off, and quickly anchored herself to the metal frame through her electromagnetic powers. Fishing the ringing device out, she checked the caller first. "Kuroko?"

"..!"

Misaka looked back at Cole, then covered the phone. He didn't want to overhear a private conversation, and it was very easy to attain that goal. Instead, he looked out over the city, and enjoyed the non-devastated view.

A couple moments of hushed but intense conversation later, Misaka walked back up to him. "Come on," she said, "let's get to the roof. We can launch ourselves from there." She was very toneless in her command, and that worried Cole.

"Bad news?" He asked, knowing that they would have plenty of time to sort things out after the delivery. Or he could take back his bag back and let her deal with it if she wanted to instead.

But she ignored him and kept walking up. From behind, he could easily tell that she was holding something in, and suspected that she wanted to get to the roof before letting loose. Made sense, really, so he let her set her own pace, though once again, her power let her go up faster than he could climb. "Gotta figure that one out," he muttered to himself. Although he had no control over what his power could do when he gained a new one, he could take the time now to try and direct his own development under more controlled circumstances.

Which of course led him back to moving to Academy City.

Which would only be after the Beast was dead.

But first thing was first. Get to the top of the building.

And a minute or so later, he did. Only to catch a lightning bolt to the face.

"HEY!" He yelled out as he flipped over the edge. "What the hell was that for?" He let a little bit of anger over come his surprise.

"You lied to me!" Misaka held one hand out, electricity coursing across it in a manner that would be threatening to anyone else on the planet. But not Cole. "You criminal!"

"What the hell gave you that idea?" Cole shot back, unharmed by the attack. Kessler struck harder, even when he didn't use electrical attacks. There was no way that would do more than empower him. But even as he said the words, he knew what had caused them. That phone call from her friend-slash-coworker.

"You're a criminal! You blamed someone else for your crimes!" She shot another bolt at him, a bit more power behind this one, though it still was no where near enough to hurt him.

"Where ever your friend got her information from, they were wrong." Cole did not raise his hand against her, nor did he through up the Wall. "I was blamed, but I didn't do it."

"You're a terrorist! And they're never wrong!" She through another, yet more powerful bolt at him, and he had enough warning to throw a hand in the way to drain it properly.

"If you've chosen to pick a fight with me, because.. what? I've done nothing wrong to you, or your city. And I certainly wasn't responsible for what you think I did." He kept his hands up, both in a warding gesture, and in case he needed to take the offensive. "The Blast, right?"

Another pair of shots, which he both caught. She was _fast_, but not overwhelmingly so. "Why would you do something like that? And think you could get away?"

"Hey. Hey now. Yea, I was there, I carried the... bomb." He wasn't going to say what it really was. "I got tricked into detonating it. I got promised a huge tip to check the integrity of the package. I survived because I'm a Conduit."

She threw a half dozen bolts, and Cole absorbed those that hit him. He saw that the faster she fired, the less accurate she got. "You're a terrorist!"

"NO! I'm not!" Cole switched out to yelling. "I was suckered into this! Kessler was the bastard that put the Sphere into my hands! Kessler took over the First Sons!" He let loose a roar to counter her own angry speech. "AND I FRIED THAT FUCKER DEAD FOR IT!"

"Why?" Misaka taunted, glad she was getting under his skin for once. "Got jealous?"

"You know _nothing_ of power, little girl." Cole snarled. "You don't know a thing, here in your safe little city, with your friends with powers, and your safe school with kids just pulling pranks." He started to advance on her, pulling away from the edge and closer to the middle of the roof where she had made her stand. "You haven't starved, got shot, blow up, poisoned with gunk that gets into your _head_, had your best friend _betray_ you for a chance at the power you got," he softened for just one moment, "or had the love of your life murdered by the man who caused all of that in the first place." He was so close to her now. "You don't know anything about me, or my life, so before you shoot off your mouth one more time about how I'm some god forsaken _terrorist_, maybe you can use that brain of yours to THINK!"

Misaka drew her other hand from inside the pocket, the coins she kept on her since being paid rattling around as she just grabbed one. She didn't know what he was talking about, but she knew that she trusted Kuroko and Uiharu's judgement completely. They said they had done the research, and found the records of his crimes, then she would act accordingly.

And he was close enough that the Railgun couldn't possibly miss.

Cole saw her flip something out of her pocket, and knew that it couldn't be good for him. She was still escalating, the damned fool of a child. Some coins fell down as time slowed down, the familiar sensations that came with precision shots coming to him. But he didn't use that. He could tell that whatever she was aiming to do next would put him in for a world of hurt. But he still didn't want to hurt her either, and that meant doing something else.

With a flick of his wrist, he loosed a ball of electricity, one with a tail on it that connected back to his hand. He could see her surprise as the tether reached for her, but she was too committed to her own action to do anything about it.

Cole's tether, a far less powerful one than the one Kessler used against him in their battle, grabbed Misaka by the chest, and yanked her off her feet and right at Cole.

The last coin fell away from her as she tried to process what he had done, but there was no time as their proximity meant that she crashed into him, the force of the electro-kinetic yank being more than just Cole pulling.

Misaka, without the coin to fire off, but still with the huge charge of energy required for the Railgun, did as she was trained to do in that situation. She grounded herself.

And electricity, being what it is, took the path of least resistance.

Into Cole.

He drank in the power, the sudden surge more than hitting any wire he had ever encountered. And it just kept coming, like a burst water main, from the girl into him. And while he wanted to safely store it or dissipate it, there was no time to think about how to do that, no obvious power point to dump megawatts of energy.

So he threw it into the sky, where it came right back down.

The Ion Storm arced down from the sky, the colossal lightning strike blinding everyone who had the unfortunate luck to be looking right at it. Roaring into existence, it struck Cole and Misaka...

_Misaka opened the package, the man promising more money to check it out._

_Cole was so proud of his powers, he couldn't wait to show his friends and family!_

_Misaka left Zeke in the dust, jumping down six stories without a scratch rather than take the stairs. Her radio beeped, and Trisha wondered what she was doing._

_Kuroko bowed eagerly as she met her new room mate, Cole MacGrath. He grinned and offered his hand in friendship._

_To help or not to help?_

_Was it my concern?_

_Uiharu behind a light, claiming her name was 'Moya' and that she was looking for her husband, John. Except John had_ his_ face._

_Scientists poked at him, wanting to see where his power stopped. It didn't._

_With no better idea, she reached up and grabbed both sides of the device, using her body as a conduit._

"_It's to help!" The white robed scientist said, asking for her DNA._

"_Come on," Saten goaded her on. "Who knows what will happen if they get their hands on it? A super-powered army, that's what!"_

_All those girls, they had his face. And they were being killed. It sickened him._

_Misaka grabbed a Reaper by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the ground, disorienting him long enough for her to move her grip to his face. It wouldn't be much, but every little bit helped. It sickened her._

_He raged as he tried to fight him, but that damned man with his white robe and metal hands couldn't be touched, no matter how hard he tried!_

_Deep under ground, Misaka tried her best to rip Shokouku apart with her bare hands. She would NEVER let her touch her friends again!_

_Cole snarled inwardly as Sasha slinked up to him, the woman not knowing when to quit. But he still needed her and her powers..._

_Konori, Saten, Kuroko and Uiharu all sat around her in the Prison Warden's office._

_Harms, Trish and Zeke all sat around him in the Judgement office._

_Misaka knew true betrayal then, as Saten took the Ray Sphere in her hands, and activated it. All she wanted powers of her own, but at what cost? How many would she kill?_

_Zeke, listening to some music. Abilities, but at what cost? How long before he died?_

_Cole brought down the Ion Storm on the massive robot. The so called 'Party Crash' about to be crashed by a real power-house. Alden would suffer for what he had done._

_Standing on the shattered bridge, Misaka was beyond feeling. Telestina Kihare was in front of her, with no where left to go. Picking up a bolt, one that had been sheared off somewhere, she charged the Railgun..._

"_Cole, I love you." Trish died in his arms._

"_Onee-sama..." Kuroko died in her arms._

_Cole, clad in white, waited in the middle of the crater in - City. Behind him in the distance was the Neon, in front of him, the gleaming spires of District 7. Across from him, Misaka walked past rubble to where it all began._

_And only one would leave._

".. up, Misaka says as she beats a hasty retreat."

Cole shot up, for a moment forgetting where he was. Then he remembered. The roof, the confrontation, the...

"Oh hell."

He looked around, and found Misaka beside him, curled up. Ignoring the smell of smoke around him, he reached out and checked her pulse, a quick EMP to assure him that she wasn't brain dead either.

Both where good, and he could see that she was still breathing.

Of course, his fractured memory told him, he had at the last moment leaned over and covered the girl with his own body, taking the brunt of the shot on himself, and not her. Espers were no where near as tough as Conduits. But she had survived, and was apparently sleeping off the after affects.

Where did that thought come from? He... He remembered things about her life. He... _lived_ parts of them, as though he was in her place. And he knew that she had done the same for him. Looking at his hands, he thought about it for a moment, and concluded that somehow they had formed a circuit of sorts. She generated power, he took and and turned it into the Ion Storm, which hit them both, which they converted back into power to share again.

No wonder they were reading each other's minds. They could both do it under certain circumstances.

Cole knew that she had taken care of most of the infrastructure, regarding that poor teacher's students, but hadn't found all the people involved. She wouldn't really hurt them, or punish them for their crimes, as that wasn't in her personality, he knew he could. Once he moved to Academy City, he would most certainly go hunting.

She stirred, Cole aware of her regaining consciousness. Maybe she was tougher than she looked? Or maybe their mutual over-charge had developed a better constitution?

And did he get a new power in the process? He looked at his hands again, but nothing came to mind. It wasn't like the flashes of foreshadowing that came usually. He set the thought aside, to come back to later. "You awake?"

"What..."

"We had a disagreement, and mutually lost." He stood up to stretch and get a better handle on things. A quick look at his watch told him that only a couple minutes had passed. "We need to get going before someone arrives to check out our light show."

"Ugh... You..."

"No, I didn't." He somehow knew what she was going to say, like they were on the same wavelength. She was going to accuse him of starting something he didn't. "You know better than that."

"Help me up," Misaka said again, raising one hand upwards. Cole grabbed it and pulled her up against him, letting her lean on him for support while she regained her legs. "You... Wow." She confirmed that the mind reading had been mutual, and Cole grimaced. He had no intention of letting her know the full extent of the past few weeks, and now the choice was out of his hands.

"I forgive you," she said, obvious to his internal opinion. "You're right, we have to go. And call Kuroko to let her know we're both good."

Cole agreed. "She's on her way right now," he said, sharing her knowledge of just how far the young teleporter would go to defend her friend. "Or should we..?"

"No, we don't wait. She won't be in the mood."

"Conversation right out." Cole and Misaka were of one mind that leaving was still their best option, so Misaka wrapped herself around his back, and he started for the edge of the building.

"Your shirt." She said, regretting that he had taken the brunt of his power like that.

"I'll get a new one," he said as he jumped off the building, starting to glide in a random direction.

As they flew, they both shared a quiet moment to sort out what had happened, what was happening.

"This must be how they work," Cole commented as they reached the halfway point, referring to the Sisters.

"I didn't get that impression last time," Misaka retorted, though through their proximity, they both knew that it wasn't a 'standard' connection at the time.

"Maybe we could?" 'Ask' was the word in the unfinished sentence.

"As long as we don't refer to ourselves in the second person, I think we'll be alright," Misaka was grateful. She had no wish to start.

They reached the ground, Cole drifting to a gentle landing in deference to his fragile passenger. "Where too?"

Misaka looked down at the strap for the bag still on her, miraculously unharmed. "We should take care of this," she said. "I can do that while you get a new shirt."

"No," Cole retorted, fully expecting the black armour of Anti-Skill at any moment, a concern shared from Misaka. "We go together."

"Fine." She gave in, knowing he would be as stubborn as she was.

As they walked, Cole decided that the best way to avoid grabbing attention with a damaged shirt was to simply take it off, roll it up, and sling it over his shoulder, baring his chest for the whole world to see.

Misaka caught wind of his plan while it was still in his head. "No! No you don't!"

"Why? Think he'll get jealous?" Cole didn't know the name of the boy who called her 'Sparky', but knew what she felt around him. And he just had to poke at it.

"N... N...! NO!" she stammered, "It's just, the attention!"

"I'm a foreigner," Cole said. "You think they'll care about the crazy guy?"

Misaka saw that he was simply escalating his position to the point no one would challenge it. A huge game of bluff that he was confident he could win, simply because he was confident.

"I would have thought someone would have come past." She changed the subject as Cole stripped off his shirt, her averting her eyes for the most part.

"Someone called them off," Cole concluded, sharing her knowledge of the 'Dark Side' of Academy City.

"Crowley?" Misaka guessed, knowing that he had met Cole yesterday.

"Maybe."

"So, why are we delivering the package still?"

"Because we promised, and we can still do it."

They arrived at the place where they needed to drop off the package. Thankfully it was undamaged, being paper and caught between Misaka and Cole when the electricity hit them. They both shared a sigh of relief when they found that out.

Then they discovered that Misaka's phone had been fried, and they agreed that was bad.

Cole chose to stay outside. Being shirtless might do something for the ladies, but wouldn't do for a business transaction.

But that didn't stop him from keeping an eye out for a certain raging teleporter. Even at a distance, he and Misaka still shared some brainwaves, and as time went on, they had gone from shock at it existing, plus Misaka's tangential experience, to acceptance of it as a constant thing that they both had some knowledge of.

And he could tell that she now agreed completely that draining a person was a bad idea. From both their personal experiences.

"Back," she announced, hopping down the last stairs. "I kinda borrowed your experience in there to make sure things go smooth."

"I know," Cole said. "Now we should deal with this." He waved one hand between their heads. "Because I don't like the idea of this going on for a long period of time."

"We need to find one of my Sisters," Misaka groaned. "And I usually try to stay away from them."

"We could try the hospital."

"And meet the Accelerator?"

Cole considered his encounter yesterday. "Maybe. Maybe not. Or we could ask the Doctor."

Misaka knew who he was talking about, and failed to suppress the thought that he had also seen the frog-face. Cole groaned as he found out what she was thinking. "But that's the best choice."

They did stop by a store on the way to the hospital. Cole picked out a new shirt, while Misaka borrowed a phone and called the Judgement office to explain that she was alright, and to reign in Kuroko, that she would explain in more detail what happened later. She didn't have the time right now.

Fresh to the day, they decided against doing any more 'stunts', neither of them sure completely what would happen if they kept it up, words unshared.

"So," Cole started to converse with words. It was easier to get specific points across. "Railgun?"

"Rockets? Grenades?" Misaka shook her head. She knew he was holding out on her before their little sharing time, but she had no idea just how... prepared for war he was. He had seen things that she hadn't even considered, fought foes which made hers look benign in comparison.

"SIX WEEKS?!" She shrieked as the math fell into place.

"Yes," Cole admitted. There was no sense in lying. "From the Sphere on."

"But! But!" She wanted to accuse him of lying, but from both their perspectives, he had never said just how long she had powers. She had assumed, and he had seen the error and done nothing to correct it.

At lease she knew he was apologetic over it.

"We really need to get out of each other's heads." She announced as she kept getting bits of information from his head.

"You read my mind," Cole joked right back as they started to pick up the pace now that the hospital was in sight.

The Doctor looked at his two patients. They had politely knocked on his door, and when he let them in, he was quite surprised. Especially when they started finishing each others sentences in a manner even the Sisters didn't do.

But there was one very important question to ask before he could perform any sort of tests. "Cole, when did you learn Japanese?"

"Huh?" Cole was surprised. "I don't."

"You've been speaking it this entire time," the Doctor replied gently. And your phrasing indicates to me that you're using Misaka-chan's lexicon."

The two electromasters looked at each other, aghast. Misaka swore.

"Now, we do have a couple options," the Doctor calmed them both down. "Ones that we can work with even without tests. The first is to separate you two. Either by distance, or by putting one of you in a Faraday cage," Cole knew the one. "The second is to call up that boy and ask him to help by temporarily suppressing one of you to allow the connection to break."

"NO!" Misaka put her foot down hard. "Don't call him!"

Cole groaned and explained the reaction. "I got no problem with that, Doc. But she's concerned that her boyfriend may take it the wrong way."

"He is NOT!" Misaka met Cole's eyes, and couldn't keep up her tirade. "No, he's not."

"If you can call him," Cole spoke again, "and told him that you needed to borrow his power-cancelling ability to help someone, would he?"

"Most certainly. But it is an option." The Doctor knew the relevant phone number by heart given how often he was a patient here.

Misaka stood up. "I think I'll go hide in that room downstairs now." She pun on her heels and went for the door before the Doctor stopped her.

"Not without my keycard, you won't."

"That won't stop me!" She knew she could break any electrical lock in existence. Heck, she was certain Cole could too!

"I'm pretty sure the mechanical lock will."

"Sit down, Misaka." Cole commanded, pointing to the now vacant seat. "There's no need to get panicky."

She did.

"Now, do you want me to ask for his help?"

"No."

"I'm alright with it. If he can cancel out powers", Cole knew from Misaka that the boy in question could do, in his opinion, amazing things. "Maybe we can just keep Misaka out of sight? You know, all he has to know about is me."

Misaka nodded quite eagerly. "Yes! That!"

The Doctor considered that some. "This will, of course, depend totally on securing his participation." He gestured at the door. "If you'll step out, I'll place the call."

A moment later, they were both outside. "So," Cole said – now more mindful of how he was saying things, rather than what he was saying. "I want to apologize. I know how hard it can be when people make certain comments about people you like." He bowed in the Japanese style to reinforce his apology. "I take it back."

In the spirit of clearing the air, Misaka returned the bow. "I want to apologize too. I saw your powers in the light of how we are taught here in Academy City. That being a style of calculation and planning how to use our powers. That you are untrained by my measure," she shuddered as she connected all the fighting he had done over that week and a half to the Level 6 SYSTEM plan, Cole sharing his bile, "meant I did not take you as seriously as I should have."

"We have much to learn from each other then." Cole agreed, glad to be at peace once more.

"Misaka thanks the both of you for being polite to each other, Miska says as she approaches unobserved."

"Not unobserved," Cole replied without turning around to face the Sister. He let Misaka do that. "Both of us have powerful passive observation skills."

"Misaka accepts that Cole MacGrath-san and Misaka Mikoto-san could do that, Misaka says as she steps into a position to indicate conversational equality." Cole looked at the Sister, and could see why people thought they were twins.

"Hey." Cole offered his hand. "Which one are you?"

"Misaka identifies herself as 10032, Misaka says politely as she shakes Cole MacGrath-san's hand."

"You can just call me Cole," he said. "So, what brings you here?" He asked the question on Misaka's mind as the clone seemed more focused on him.

"Misaka notes that the Original and Cole-san are in their own Network, Misaka says as she shifts uncomfortably. Misaka also wanted to inform you that Misaka believes that you on on a different 'frequency', as Misaka stays in proximity to observe the electromagnetic interaction between Cole-san and the Original. Misaka lowers her observational head-piece, that she will no longer allow 20001 to abscond with in the future over her eyes."

Cole looked at Misaka with a 'Seriously?' look on his face. Misaka shrugged.

"So, what are you seeing, Imouto?" Misaka asked as her 'Little Sister' panned her face between the two of them.

"Misaka reports to the Original through vocal means, which is inefficient, that Cole-san and the Original's bandwidth is much much smaller than the Sisters Network, she says as she lets a smile play over her face, trolling the Original that there is something the Sisters can do better than her."

"Don't push your luck," Misaka threatened. "Is that all? We're working to get rid of the 'Network' anyways."

"Misaka is sad to hear that, Misaka says without being sad. Misaka notes that this is good experience for the Original to participate in a proper Network should she change her mind in the future and participate in the Sisters Network."

"Last time I was in there, I kinda took over."

"That was not a proper joining, Misaka changes her grammar to avoid speaking her name first as she had been taught that variety is the spice of life. Misaka adds that we are pleased that you recovered properly from the energy blast that caused the Original to join that exclusive Network."

Cole pondered this for a moment, then decided to throw out a bad joke. "So, if we're on different frequencies, is there any way to pick up radio or TV broadcasts in my head then?"

"Misaka has already considered the possibility, Cole-san, Misaka says as she recalls experiments that have been performed. But Misaka is dejected to inform Cole-san that even if the Network could receive information directly like that, which would be very good for information throughput, that the Network does not have the decoders to properly interpret the signal, nor would we commit the crime of signal theft, Misaka concludes firmly, knowing that she would not stoop to a crime so low."

"Got it," Cole replied. "Are you going to observe as we break our connection?"

"Misaka may, depending on the orders of the presiding Doctor, Misaka gestures at the door to that wise man. We do not have information about what happens when a Network connection is severed from an external standpoint, so the science involved is of importance to us, Misaka admits to wanting to observe."

"Observe all you want," Misaka said. "But you know he's going to be here, right?"

"That is an additional incentive, Misaka confirms."

"No!" Cole warned Misaka, catching a flash of intention. "Don't."

"I was just thinking about it!" She objected, "I wasn't going to do it!"

The door to the Doctor's office opened. "He has agreed to help." Then he greeted the Sister. "Hello there, 10032. How are you all today?"

"Misaka reports that we are fine in a statistical majority, Misaka says as she bows to the Doctor. Two of us are sick with a virus, she reports, while fourteen are in various states of dehydration or starvation, she says as she concludes her report."

"That is very good to hear," the Doctor replied jovially. "Now, I heard something about you wanting to observe this?"

"That is correct, Misaka replies."

"Excellent. Once that young man gets here, we can have him and Cole in a private room, while the two of you watch through a one-way mirror. I'd rather not put anyone into an electrical deadroom at this point."

"How long" Cole said.

"Will he be?" Misaka finished.

"Not too long," the Doctor replied. "He was nearby in any case."

Cole sat in a chair in the vacant and shut down operating room. The Doctor had explained this one was undergoing routine maintenance, and therefore didn't need to be sterilized once they left. He could sense Misaka and the Sister up and behind him through the dark tinted windows.

The door opened, and in walked the boy. Cole stood to greet him. "Hello."

"Hello," the boy said, bowing. "I am Kamijou Touma."

"Cole MacGrath. Thanks for helping out."

Touma looked at his hand. "Sorry, but this is the first time I've been asked to do this in a hospital. What's wrong with your power, if I may ask?" He looked around like something horrible was going to happen.

"I'm an electro-kinetic," Cole said, playing power between his hands. "I got supercharged earlier today, and my power is a little on the fritz. The Doctor thinks having you shut me down will 'reset' my power." That was the explanation that was closest to the truth.

Touma sighed. "You were hit by that lighting strike downtown earlier, weren't you?"

"Uh, yea, that was me. Why?"

"Because Index was startled by it, and spilled their ice cream all over me. I had to go home and get changed." He sighed again. "Such misfortune."

"Hey, sorry about that. I can give you some money to make up for the lost food." Cole was honest in that, as he still had plenty of change.

"No, it's alright." Touma held out his hand. "Shall we?"

"Sure." Cole took Touma's hand in his own, and almost collapsed as everything _changed_. The colours were a little less intense, and he felt weak. Touma was about ready to let go when Cole put his other hand on top, his greater physical strength maintaining the contact. "Don't let go."

Touma nodded and relaxed, letting his Imagine Breaker do its work. "The Doctor said one minute should do it."

Cole counted the seconds, as for the first time in weeks, he was suddenly without that which had come to define him.

And he missed it. He knew that his powers were the cause of so much personal suffering, but also much good. He knew he couldn't give them up permanently. Not now, and not after the Beast was dead.

"Time," The Doctor announced from over the speakers, and the two men let go of each other. "How do you feel, Cole?"

"Better," Cole said. "It's not there anymore."

"Excellent! Both of you, come up to my office so I can finish the paperwork involved."

Cole waited as Misaka hid around the corner from the Doctor's office. Apparently the Sister had left as soon as the connection was severed, her observations done. Soon, Touma stepped out, and the two bowed to each other in thanks, the young man going one way, allowing Misaka to approach from the other side.

Up close, she poked him in the arm. "No more mind-reading."

"Nope." He agreed, then knocked on the door. "Doctor?"

"Come in! Come in!" They entered and took the same seats as last time. "It's good to see that worked. Once he suppressed your Ability, Cole, the connection went away as both girls could confirm."

"Good to hear." He looked over at the young girl. "So, no more trying to electrocute each other, alright?"

"Agreed!"

"So, what's next, Doctor?"

"Oh, paperwork." He handed clipboards and pens to both of them. "Now, fill out the marked areas."

The left as the sun was coming down. "We still have some time," Cole looked at his watch again. "Want me to show you some of my fighting stuff now?" There was no sense in hiding it any more.

"No," Misaka said. "I would have wanted too, but I saw enough of that in your head already. And besides, it's not like I can mimic your powers properly."

"You did well enough with the Blast."

"But that was me just generating a magnetic field and moving an object in it!" Misaka objected that she hadn't replicated Cole's intuitive ability properly didn't mean she had failed. "You see. By the time you come back, I'll have figured it out."

Cole grinned, and reached out with one hand to rub the top of her head. "You do that. Now, you go home, and deal with your friend. I'm surprised we haven't seen her yet, so that needs to be taken care of. I'll see you later."

With nothing more to say, and accepting that each had their own responsibilities, they went their separate ways.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Mister Mercer?"

"Yo!" The overweight man approached the checkpoint into Academy City, his face pale under the lights, and his cheeks sagging – a sign that he had lost a lot of weight recently, and still hadn't recovered. "That's me! Alex Mercer, Electrical Engineer extrordinare!" If he was affected by the January weather under his long sleeved shirt and battered vest, he didn't show it.

"Your Visa, Mister Mercer?"

"That ole' thing?" Mercer put the battered papers on the counter between him and the immigration official. "Got it right here."

The Academy City official examined the necessary paper-work, noting that he had marked the purpose of his visit as both 'Personal'. "Tourist?" He asked, noting that it wasn't unusual. At least he hadn't checked 'immigration'. That would require a lot of papers that the American obviously didn't have.

"A bit o'that. I'm here to deliver a message to a friend of my brother. Maybe stick around after to enjoy the sights." He grinned like a fool behind his massive sunglasses.

"Why could your brother not come?" The question was prying, but given everything that had happened these past months, one couldn't be to careful.

"Dead," Mercer replied with all the seriousness of one who would never consider lying about that. "He was in Empire City."

"My condolences." The man's paper-work was all in order, and he bowed to the American, who awkwardly returned the gesture. "Welcome to Academy City."

* * *

Misaka shouldered her bag as she left the school grounds. It was a nice winter day, and she intended to enjoy every moment of it.

"Excuse me? Misaka Mikoto?" The strange voice came from a man who stood to one side of the gates. He was a foreigner, and was, for lack of a better word, ugly, like he had been eaten from the inside out. Seeing that he had her attention, he straightened himself out and picked up two bags at his side. "My name is Zeke Dunbar, I'm Cole's brother. Can we talk?"

She knew Zeke, from her borrowed memories. But she didn't act on them, on the faint sense of betrayal that she felt. It wasn't hers. "Why?"

"He's dead."

They walked to the Judgement office, where Misaka asked for some privacy. Konori wasn't in, and Kuroko was on patrol, so Uiharu simply put on some headphones, and asked them to keep it down. She sat on the couch and motioned for Zeke to take a chair. "Thanks for dropping what you're doing, kiddo." Zeke set down a large duffel, which he had explained on the way here was his luggage.

"Don't call me kiddo. I'm Misaka-san to you." She said coldly, crossing her legs to show some maturity. "How did he die?"

The door to the office opened, causing Misaka to stare at whomever had interrupted her interrogation start when she stopped. She recognized the work uniform of Anti-Skill instantly, and stood up. "Sit, Misaka-chan. Zeke Dunabr? I'm Lieutenant Yomikawa Aiho, and this is my co-worker, Tessou Tsuzuri. We're with Anti-Skill."

"Cops, huh? That's a record." Zeke looked ambivalent at the presence of the two women. "I ain't been here long enough to cause a ruckus."

"You did enter under a false name," Aiho replied with a grin. "That does mean something to us."

"Can you blame me?" Zeke took to humor with his own. "I suppose this means I get to spend a night in a cell, right?"

"Maybe," Aiho took a spot on the couch next to Misaka, who shuffled away from her to keep her own distance. "We can forgive paperwork errors."

Zeke leaned over the table, no fool. "What's it gonna cost me?"

"You're the only source of information we have regarding the events in Empire City and New Marais. The Board of Directors would like to have a non-censored account of those events."

"And if, hypothetically speaking, I decline?"

Tsuzuri spoke up from the chair she had claimed beside Zeke, and across from Misaka. "The extradition treaty between the United States and Academy City is still in effect. Terrorists can be repatriated quickly in the interests of justice."

Zeke was stunned. Then he looked Aiho in the eyes. "Man, your partner can't play the bad cop to save her life. You two should have switched."

Aiho shrugged. "She's still new. And I wanted to be the good cop. Well?"

He leaned back in his chair. "Eh, might as well. Gonna have to let Laroache know his guy isn't that good. Where do you want me to start?"

"At the beginning please. Officer Tessou will be recording your statement after she removed Uiharu from the room, and I will be asking clarifying questions as we go."

"Sure thing. Let's see, The Blast?"

"If you please."

* * *

"So, Cole was at the epicentre of the explosion?"

"Yeppers. That's partly why the Voice thought he gone done it, though as it turned out later, he was kinda on the payroll of the First Sons. They had reason to slander Cole now that he was up and about."

"And the explosive?"

"Well, it wasn't a bomb. Not really. Sure, it blew stuff up, but that was a secondary effect."

"It was an AIM weapon."

"Got no idea what AIM is, so sure, why not? You guys already know some stuff. I'm just filling in the gaps."

* * *

"So, increased durability, and electrokinesis. That's it?"

"That's all he needed."

"But you said his powers developed as time went on?"

"Ah, well, you see, the Reapers, they didn't like the idea of an Electric Man running around what they thought was their turf, so they put their brains together and came up with about the only smart thing they did the entire time. They blew up a substation real good, tripping the entire City into a blackout. Cole couldn't recharge."

"How did he cope?"

"Simple. He followed my advice, and went underground to re-start the substations. The City had some great redundancy there."

"So he restored power to the city?"

"Nah, it took him a week. The substations only served parts of the city, and it took time for the system to stabilize and let him get the next one. But here's the thing. You see, every time he did, he had to fix the breaker. And that meant physically holding on to both ends."

"That's not something I would expect would go over well."

"Oh no, it hurt like hell, truth be told. But every time he did that, he overcharged himself. Put so much juice into him that his powers expanded by leaps and bounds. Got himself new tricks each time."

"Abilities don't work like that."

"Yes, they do." Misaka interjected. "It's very dangerous, so Academy City doesn't do that method."

* * *

"Mind controlling tar?"

"Not Tar per-se, Officer. It was goo. Ooze. Puss. Hell, sweat for all I know. She – Sasha I mean – infected people through it. Cole was strong enough to fight it off for the most part, though she could still get into his head on occasion." Zeke switched his focus to Misaka. "My brother had a message for you, a warning he though of after he came home. He wanted you to know that if someone called 'Mental Out', and I quote him here, "If she ever did anything to your friends like that again, to fry that bitch. Anyone who acts like that stops to think of people as people and more like things to be used." I got no clue what he's talking about, but that part of the message is delivered. There's more, don't you worry."

Misaka frowned. She had made some sort of peace with Mental Out, but if Cole had drawn parallels between her and Sasha, then he knew what he was talking about. Which also explained her memory of his fight with her. "Understood." Maybe she shouldn't have implied that she agreed that she would 'fry' another Level Five in front of Anti-Skill, but there was nothing provable there.

* * *

"You strapped him to an _electric chair_? WHY?"

"Only way to keep him down. Fucker – sorry, language – Alden was an ornery old cuss. Anything less, and he would kill people on his way out. Which he did."

"What happened?"

"I screwed up. Real bad. That was where Cole and I had our first real falling out. I abandoned my post to help him drive off the Dust men, and the boys in blue didn't have the technical know-how to keep Alden down." He looked at the Anti-Skill with sorrow in his expression. "I'm sorry. I killed your brothers. Ain't nothing I can do to make up for that."

* * *

"So I held the damn thing in my hands. There is was, Cole was busy putting the hurt on Alden, and I didn't see Kessler's copter coming up. And it _shone_, like nothing else. It held the eye, you know? The promise of powers, enough to make a difference. And I was jealous. Cole got all the power, all the attention, all the glory. Why couldn't I share it? That was my other big mistake.

"I triggered the Ray Sphere."

"And nothing happened," Misaka remembered. "You're not an Esper, so it did nothing in your hands."

"And it's still freaky, knowing you and my brother shared thoughts like that, but yea. Kessler promised to 'fix' the problem, and I abandoned my brother. That was my third mistake, the last one I would make."

* * *

"So you're saying the damage to the bridge was caused by Alden Tate, not by Cole?"

"Yep. Saw the whole thing through the drones, well, what could be seen through the dust. Alden had his huge Golem, and Cole was just tiny. But he was just so pissed off that he tore that thing a new one in no time flat. Alden jumped soon after, couldn't take the heat."

* * *

"Cole chose," Zeke buried his face in his hands. "He went for Trish. I knew he would. And so did Kessler. He didn't force me to watch as Cole went to save the love of his life."

"That didn't happen." Aiho observed.

"No. Kessler, he... he knew what Cole would choose. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Cole would save Trish, even at the cost of six other lives. He got up there, and found that Kessler lied. Trish was in the six. She fell, and died in his arms. She's buried in the Cemetery, or was, before everything else. And I was in the room when Cole promised to kill Kessler. If he was angry with me, he was furious to the point of calm with Kessler."

"He blew it up. There, on the end of the pier, he slammed the Sphere with everything, it was as sight to behold, even from where I was being held. But it blew up, and killed John in the process. Poor sod died screaming."

* * *

"I don't know why Kessler brought me to there. I think he wanted me to watch. But I just couldn't stand by. I grabbed my gun from one of my guards, shot them both, reloaded, and put six rounds into Kessler, just as he was gaining the advantage. He blasted me away, over a block. Landed hard, broke a couple ribs, but it was enough. Cole was able to turn the tide. I got back in time to watch him bring the thunder on Kessler. Then he got back up – Kessler that is, and attacked Cole. Or tried to. He did the same thing that happened between the girl and Cole. Shared his thoughts."

"What did he share?"

"The future."

* * *

"Cole came back from his trip here. I got to say, he was a lot more relaxed. Vacation did him good. First thing he did was he called me over to the Prison and talked with me and the Warden, explained some of the details about his trip, and about New Marais. He said that he had some reference for what I had done, and thanks to you, was willing to forgive me. Said something about someone named 'Satan'?"

"Saten-san," Misaka corrected him.

"I know that name," Aiho wondered aloud.

"Level Upper Victim," Misaka explained.

"Ah, that's it. Thank you."

* * *

"Kuo commented that she didn't speak Japanese, that she was Chinese-American and spoke both dialects of Chinese. Mandarin and whatever the other one was. Poor Cole was so sad that his new language was of no use."

Misaka giggled, though she shouldn't have. "Sorry, it's just my English proficiency went up to 'Native Speaker', and I'm tutoring some people now because of it."

"Good for you, Girly!"

"My name is Misaka, Zeke _Jedidiah_ Dunbar!"

"Hey! Only my momma gets to call me Jedidiah. You get one free pass, but no more."

* * *

"The Beast, he was too strong. No, that's not right. Cole was stuck at the end of a pier. No ability to manoeuvre. I think he could have won if he had room to move, but he was trapped from the start, and the Beast won."

* * *

"Cole was weaker, sure, in terms of raw power, but what he had? He refined. He started to figure out how to do his glide using his feet, to free up his hands. Said he got the idea from you, how you could move over sea water through hydrostatic forces. I think. He didn't have a head for math. That was my thing. But he burned on the boat ride. He told me that he had failed, but that New Marais was going to be round two. With the help of Wolfe, he would come back stronger." Zeke sighed. "Eight million people already dead, and Cole knew what would happen if he failed for good. I had to do something to help him. So I made the Amp."

* * *

"He asked Wolfe something weird. Asked him if he knew about someone named 'Kihare'. Wolfe replied that Bertrand had them all killed after the Blast and he formed the Militia. Said they were 'untrustworthy'. Poor Wolfe got so much added to his plate for that. He was just burned out by the time Bertrand decided to put him down too."

* * *

"So he picks up the damned truck! Gotta weigh a good three quarters of a ton if an ounce, and he _throws_ the thing at the Helicopter! I ain't ever seen anything like that. Though I think he was talking about you when he said that he "ain't gonna throw around no pissant coin". Though I crunched some numbers afterwards, and well, based on what he told me about your Railgun, it could go either way."

"A whole TRUCK?" Misaka was flabbergasted. And Cole was competing against her for it? "Fine, maybe he can do it with a heavier object. I'm still better." He had figured out her 'Levitate' ability, then added in the Blast. It wouldn't work for precision work, but for mass destruction? She could do the same. She knew it.

Zeke raised his hands in surrender. "Not gonna get into that pissing contest. But I will tell you that if it came down to it, I know where my loyalties lay."

* * *

"Kuo was in rough shape. Even Miss Burning Britches helped out once she saw the fighting was good. Nix was a tiger, that's for sure. Made their differences all the more huge. But she wasn't about to let Bertrand have his way with anyone. Vermark 88 be damned."

"Vermaak, not Vermark." Tessou corrected. "Based in South Africa."

"Add it to the report," Aiho commanded, getting back to the story.

"Well, Kuo, she wasn't in such good shape, so we headed back to the safehouse. When she woke up, she told us what happened. Bertrand had activated her latent powers with some sort of 'Transfer Device' and bled her dry, putting them into the Mercs. Drove them nuts with power. Nix... well, she didn't take the news too well. Anyone who got messed up by Bertrand, well, they were worth helping in her book, even if she hated their guts."

* * *

"Human sacrifices. Well, Cole put a stop to that. Stared down that Behemoth, and tore it a new one. The Rebels, well, according to Rosco, after that stunt, figured he could walk on water. Didn't help any that he could, to a limited extent. He wouldn't go too far from town with that power, but I suppose that's when people started calling him the Saint."

* * *

"It was Bertrand?"

"Yep. Don't ask me where he got the mass, but that huge mother, the momma Corrupted was Bertrand. That made him responsible for everyone trying to kill Cole. Militia was his. He created the Ice Soldiers, and made the Freaks. Oh, Cole was so gleeful when he found out. The irony! The biggest Human Supremacist was the freakiest freak that ever freaked!"

"I don't see what's so funny."

"Eh, you weren't there."

* * *

"The Dunbar Beam? Worked by igniting methane sacs in the Corrupted. As swamp critters, they were full of the stuff, so I just whipped up a little something to make them go up like the gasbags they were!"

"Some of our people may want to see a model of that."

"We'll see. It's pretty specific in purpose though."

* * *

"It ain't no plague, you see. That's why the CDC was baffled. It was radiation. The Ray Sphere pumped a whole lot of it out when it fired off, to empower Conduits. They would survive. Everyone else wouldn't. And the Beast was coming our way. The entire Eastern Seaboard was affected."

"And the Government said nothing?"

"Oh, they said it alright. Blamed it on Cole, and the Beast. Sorry, the quote – Empire Event – unquote. But that wasn't the point. Ray Field technology? It was fatal to anyone without powers, short and long term. And the RFI was our ticket out of hell."

* * *

Tessou dropped her notepad. Misaka felt sick to her stomach, while Aiho went stone faced. "Yep. Nuclear. I know you guys got a bad history with the things, but Bertand had it laying around! So I stole it, refitted it to fire at the Beast, and let her rip."

He looked ashen himself. "Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr. Major Charles W. Sweeny. Zeke J. Dunbar. The three men who let loose the fires of the apocalypse in anger. May there never be a fourth."

* * *

"It was John. He was the Beast."

"How?"

"The Ray Sphere. It killed him, yes, but he was a Conduit. It changed him. Made him into a living, walking, talking Ray Sphere. And he wanted Cole's help."

"What did he say?"

"He said 'Help me, Cole. Help me save as many as I can!' That the Ray Field couldn't be stopped, that it would only spread, from Conduit to Conduit. The Beast – John – he wanted to activate as many Conduits as he could, to save their lives at the cost of everyone without powers."

* * *

"Yea, I had the 'plague'. I was hanging around the most powerful Conduit in North America! Damn straight I got it."

"What did you do?"

"Like a fool, I tried to hide it from him. But he could see it, Cole could. Saw I was sick. And he knew he had to make it right."

* * *

"Nix died, wounding the Beast. Just like her. But as she lay there, something changed in Cole. He said he could see her brain firing, that he could see what happened when she used her powers. He knew how it was done. He could do it. Facing the Beast, while the RFI charged, he became a storm. Of Ice. Of Lighting. Of Fire. He figured out how to copy another Conduits powers at the last. He said he was past his Karma now, that he was free, and he used his freedom to save everyone."

* * *

Zeke wept. "The Beast was down, dammit! The Milita and the Rebels, hell, even the last of the Mercs got into it! It was down! Defeated! But Cole knew that John would just come back. That the RFI was the only way."

"Even if it killed him," Misaka knew.

"That ain't the worst of it. This last part? This is for you."

* * *

"Hey, Zeke?" Cole held the RFI in one hand, John's monstrous form between him and Saint Ignatius.

"Hang on brother! I'm a'comin!"

"Zeke, do something for me, will ya?" Cole held the Ray Sphere with both hands now. He didn't need a hand to use the radio any more. He could just think it.

"Wait for me!" Zeke almost tripped as he ran down the stairs. But he recovered and kept falling to earth.

"Promise me, Zeke!"

"Come on, brother! Give me a minute!"

"PROMISE ME!"

Zeke stopped running. No haste could fix things now. Out a window, he saw Kuo fall down at Cole's feet, her agony at her mortal wounds apparent, even at this range. He clicked the radio. "You're my brother. I ain't gonna promise you nothing, cause you know I'll do it anyways."

"Go to Academy City, Zeke. There's that girl, Misaka. If she's still alive after this..."

* * *

Zeke reached down into one of his bags and fumbled for a moment. Then he pulled out the Amp, rippling with beauty in the light. Setting it on the table between everyone, he finished his story through unlimited tears.

"Give them to her. The bag and the Amp. She may need them. And tell her what happened, so she knows." Cole dumped everything he had into the RFI, hoping past hope that it's effects would reach out across the world, to undo everyone's mistakes.

Then he let go.

"It's yours now. Cole's last will and testament. He was at peace at the end. And he wanted you to know, that he was sorry he left you like that."

Misaka reached out and picked up the Amp. She could see the myriad dings and scratches. Some were buffed into obscurity, others repaired. There was platinum in it, she could tell through the resistance it gave. And gold too. The metal in it was worth more than the block of buildings they were in, she was sure of it.

And it was hers. An heirloom weapon, passed down to her from someone she could call equal. "Why? Why didn't he call? Why? I could have helped." Her voice was soft as a weight started to set down on her shoulders, but she refused to give in.

"And then you'd be dead too. Don't think he didn't think about it. But you were still a kid in his eyes. He wasn't about to drag you into this if he could help it. Hell, we were gambling that the RFI would only cover North America, to heal those irradiated by the Beast, and the Ray Sphere."

"You were wrong," Tessou replied. "On that day, there were 18 unexplained fatalities. They all died in agony, but quickly. There was no hope to save them."

Zeke slouched. "I'm sorry. Musta been really sensitive. I don't know. Only thing I can do is put flowers on their graves now."

"It wasn't your fault." Aiho reached out and patted Zeke's shoulder. "You did all you could."

"I COULD HAVE DONE MORE!" Zeke yelled in anger, throwing off the arm. "I let my _BROTHER_ FADE AWAY! I should have tried harder! Should have thought of something! He could still be alive!"

"And then you'd be dead," Misaka said quietly, taking the bag, and putting it over her shoulder. As Zeke watched, she adjusted the straps, sizing it for her smaller body. "Don't cry. He knew, that's why he asked you to come here. To get away." She awkwardly tried to slip the Amp into the back of the bag, but failed.

"Come here, let me show you." Zeke gestured for Misaka to approach, and she did, turning her back to him in the process. "You sure about this? You take it as more than a trophy to put on your mantle, a memory, there ain't no turning back on it."

"Put it on. I want to feel it's weight."

"Sure. It's a bit big for you though. I could work on it, make it smaller. Need a shop though." He glanced at the Anti-Skill officers. "Assuming I don't spend the rest of my life in a pit."

"No. You won't." Aiho stood up as Zeke finished attaching the Amp. "I cannot approve of her carrying a weapon like that, but I don't think I can stop her either. But you kept your end of the deal, and we'll keep ours. You'll be free once we fix the paperwork."

"Thanks." Zeke whispered as he looked down at the girl who would grow up in a better world. "What next?"

"What happened to the RFI?"

"Busted, broken, burned out. Cole did a number on that thing. Tossed it in his grave to keep him company."

"You realize you're the only person left who knows about this technology, don't you? The Sphere and the Inhibitor?"

"Thought crossed my mind, yes. Figured I would find somewhere remote and just hide for a couple decades."

Aiho had a sad smile on her face. "I have a better offer."

"What? Live here in Academy City? Don't be a fool."

"Foolish enough to join Anti-Skill?"

"Aiho-san!" Tessou voiced her surprise as her senior raised a hand to make her case.

"We fix the paper work, say that you were recruited into Anti-Skill as a mechanical specialist. You built that thing," she indicated the Amp, "you fixed the RFI. You refitted a nuclear weapon. Those are accomplishments that show that you are a valuable person. No matter what, someone will find you. Anti-Skill can use a person of your ability. Not to make weapons, but to understand them. And we will not sacrifice our own for political necessity either. Academy City will stand against nations. We have before, and will again. Join us. Please."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes."

Zeke looked beside him at Misaka, and wondered where she would be in ten years. Would she understand what happened, and why? Would she? "Will you do my brother proud?"

"Yes." Misaka replied, "I will. I can do no less."

Zeke looked Aiho in the eye. "You fuck with me, you won't last long enough to regret it." He offered his hand.

"Agreed. Welcome to Anti-Skill, Zeke Dunbar."

* * *

In his other bag, the RFI lay still. Uncharged, it was intact, ready to be unleashed once more, the final line of defence to save humanity.

* * *

It had taken weeks of study. Finally she hit upon a solution through space travel, and the Ion engines used by deep space probes. Kuroko had obliged her as they teleported to a roof somewhere.

"Must you carry that thing?" The teleporter asked, indicating the large device on Misaka's back.

"Hey, it makes the Railgun safer, so why not?"

"And more powerful! That last test indicated you could reach _orbit_ with it!"

"Trust me, Kuroko."

"I do."

"Really?"

"Always."

Misaka Mikoto, the third ranked Level Five in Academy City ran for the edge of the building and jumped off. For a moment, nothing.

And then she flew.


End file.
